Blood and Coffee
by Tash the Traumatized Teapot
Summary: Harry arrives at Hogwarts late. He has been raised by different people and is not what people have expected, but perhaps he is just what they need?  SLASH, creaturefic, some Gryffindor-bashing, AU
1. Prologue

_Hello, peeps! This is not my first fanfic, but it is the first one I have published. This is a test to see if anyone would be interested in my baby.__ This story has been living on my computer for a long while, and it's about time it got to see the world!_

_**Disclaimer**__: *is sarcastic* Why, yes, I do own it all. *edges away from lawyers that suddenly arrives in puffs of grey smoke* Okay, okay. *hands up in surrender* I don't own it. I own only the plot and the OC's. *pouts*_

_Oh, and people here will be OOC. It just had to happen. There will also be Gryffindor-bashing, especially Ron-bashing, because this story has to have a bad guy in the school and no one else volunteered. So there. You have been warned  
_

_**Warnings**__: This is SLASH, which means that several male characters will be gay and shagging each other. Deal with it or leave. Flames will be welcomed; my room could use some heating in these cold times._

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**Chapter one **

It was the Sorting Feast on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore sat by the Head Table overlooking his students. The Sorting of the new students had just ended and the first-years weren't looking as nervous as they were only minutes ago. The Headmaster stared sadly out over the Hall. He was still grieving the loss of a boy who should have been one of his students. Harry Potter. Son of James and Lily Potter, two of the brightest students he ever had the pleasure to meet.

The Headmaster stood up; ready to announce the name of the new sixth year student. He was very curious about whom this young man was, and a small part of him was hoping that this was the missing saviour.

Harry Potter was also called the Boy Who Lived among the Wizarding population, in fact. He was famous among European wizards and witches. Young Mr Potter was supposed to start Hogwarts six years ago. But the boy had been no-where to find. He was not with his Aunt and Uncle, were Dumbledore personally had placed him after his parents had died and young Harry had defeated a Dark Lord at the tender age of one.

A few seats next to the Headmaster sat the Potions Professor at Hogwarts, Severus Snape. He was scowling at the world in general and not really grieving the fact that Harry Potter was missing yet again. The Headmaster had never given up and still hoped that the boy would walk in the front doors someday. Professor Snape almost snorted at the thought. Except he did not, because Slytherins Do Not Snort. It was actually a written rule, in the Slytherin Handbook. Number 24, if Professor Snape remembered correctly. And he most likely did; being the Head of Slytherin made it prudent for him to know their rules correctly.

Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was glancing at Dumbledore. She was worried for the man. The rise of You-Know-Who a few years back had cast a damper on the mood in the Wizarding world, but Dumbledore took it more seriously than anybody. Of course, it was a reason to worry when He Who Must Not Be Named had stolen the Philosophers Stone from Hogwarts and right underneath the Headmaster's nose. People had been sending Dumbledore angry Howlers for _months_ after that. The Headmaster had been forced to redirect his mail to his office, because it wouldn't do that the Headmaster got angry mails in front of the students.

Remus Lupin was sitting further down the table. He was happily humming for himself and silently celebrating that he had been able to break the curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. He was now the teacher in the aforementioned subject for the second time. Professor Lupin thought he could afford to be a bit smug because of that. He was also almost grinning in anticipation because he knew that things would get fun very soon.

Ron Weasley was sitting with his friends Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. They were discussing who would win the House Cup that year, and how annoying it was that Gryffindor hadn't won at all during their time.

"I mean; how hard can it be to beat _Hufflepuff_ in a Quidditch game?!" Ron exclaimed. Dean and Seamus nodded their agreement. Further down the table, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley (Ron's younger sister) scoffed at the boys.

"One could be led to believe that Quidditch is the most important thing in the world!" Hermione complained. "Your brother is a moron, Ginny." Ginny nodded and sighed.

On the end of the Ravenclaw Table sat Luna Lovegood. She was staring absentmindedly at a spot on the wall. Now and then she could be seen blinking slowly and looking at another spot for a while, but she would always return to the just above the Potion Professor's head. He, in turn, had long ago learned not to look in the direction of her seat at the Ravenclaw Table for the sake of his sanity.

By the Slytherin Table Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were ignoring the Headmaster who had just risen, and were instead talking quietly about the missing Dark Lord. Their parents had decided that they should join the Death Eaters, but then the Dark Lord had gone missing. Not that Draco or Blaise was very sorry for the fact, mind you.

"I'm sure he's planning something and just decided not to tell his minions," Pansy Parkinson, who was the only other student let into the silencing bubble they had erected, leaned over to them and joined the conversation. "It's not like the man, if you could call him that, cares about informing the Death Eaters of his every little move. Besides, I'm sure there is a spy in his ranks. And he probably knows it as well."

"You're right, Pansy," Draco said. "We're probably not lucky enough to have lost him already. Damn." Blaise nodded his agreement.

"I don't think we're going to be let off that easily," Blaise sighed. "Damn father and his ideas! It annoys me that he wants me to bow to that – that- whatever he is! Muggleborns are not beneath us! Just look at Granger! She is top of all the classes and she's a Muggleborn!"

Before Draco even got the chance to answer, the doors to the Great Hall opened. Every face in the Hall was turned towards the person who had just entered. People didn't enter in the middle of the Sorting! The Headmaster was just about to stand up and take his customary speech, for Merlin's sake! Not that Draco thought the speech was something important to listen to every year

But then Draco noticed the young man standing in the door. He was a bit beneath average height, slender, but with obvious signs of being muscled. His hair was falling messily down to his shoulders, giving him a just-got-shagged-look. But the most stunning was his eyes. They shone an emerald colour most people wouldn't think possible in someone's eyes. The pale complexion of the man only making the eyes stand out more.

He was looking around in the room with a small smile on his lips, when Dumbledore addressed him.

"Welcome, young man," the Headmaster said happily. "I was just about to announce you." The young man grinned slightly, and tilted his head.

"Go ahead then, Headmaster," he said. His voice was soft, but still carried through the whole room.

"This young man will be joining our sixth years this year. He will hopefully finish his education here at Hogwarts," the Headmaster said, his voice curious. The newcomer nodded. The old man clapped his hands together enthusiastically, in typical Dumbledore-manner.

"Well, Minerva will call you up to the Hat to get Sorted then," Dumbledore smile jovially down at the young man. The man grinned again. Draco noted absently that the boy managed to grin without showing any teeth.

"Pierce, Raven," the stern Transfiguration Professor called. The newcomer grinned more.

"I am afraid I lied a bit about my name," he said calmly, but still with a wide grin. His eyes where glinting in an odd manner. "I must confess I just wanted to see your faces. I'm a bit too fond of the shock factor." The Headmaster looked slightly unnerved at that, but he quickly caught himself and looked just as happy as he usually did.

"And what is your real name, young man?" he asked jovially, albeit a bit cautiously.

"My name is Harry Potter," the young man said.

Dead silence spread through the Hall.

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_Anyone here who didn't see that coming? I think you did *grins*_

_*gives you puppy dog eyes* Tell me what you think? Review? Feedback is much appreciated!  
_

_The rest of the story will be from Harry's point of view, I just wanted a different one at the beginning._


	2. Chapter 1 Where Harry Is Sorted

_I went to school Monday morning, sat down in my classroom, took up my laptop and turned it on. Then I checked my email, like I always do when I turn on my computer. I was met by 25 emails, whereas 23 of them were about this story! *big eyes* four reviews and 19 – __**19**__ – alert notices!! *is amazed* This is going to keep me going for weeks!! *insanely wide grin*_

_Now, this story is on 30__ alert lists, 4 favourites and I've gotten 7 reviews. I'm overwhelmed! This is after all the first chapter on my first story *jumps up and down in excitement*_

_**Disclaimer**__: *opens mouth, then notices creepy grey smoke* Uhhh.. *hurriedly* Not mine! *grey smoke disappear* Phew! *sighs relieved*_

_Warnings are in the first chapter._

_**Last note**__: This chapter is dedicated to you, my cold-infested friend. You know who you are *grins* Get better soon!_

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**Chapter 1 – Where Harry Is Sorted**

The Hall was silent for a whole amount of four seconds before noise broke loose. The students on most of the tables were talking loudly and excitedly while trying to get a better look at the newcomer who claimed to be their supposed deceased saviour. The Headmaster was standing very still. Then;

"If you are indeed Harry Potter, you will have no problem to prove that, then," he said. The entire Hall was silent again. Harry smirked. The Slytherins immediately decided that this was not Harry Potter, because heroes didn't smirk like that. Dumbledore furrowed his brow, like he was thinking the same.

"How do you expect me to prove that?" Harry asked. "It's not like I have a birth-certificate here. I checked the family vaults, and for some reason, it isn't there." And this had indeed puzzled him for some time, but he still hadn't found an answer.

"You can show us your scar!" a red headed boy shouted from his position at the Gryffindor Table. "If you're really Harry Potter, you have the scar!" Several people mumbled their agreement to this. Harry sighed and pushed up his bangs. And there, in the middle of his forehead, was a scar shaped as a lightning bolt. More noise broke out in the Hall. Students pointed and shouted and talked excitedly between themselves.

"Scars can be made," Harry heard some Slytherin mumble to his friends. Dumbledore looked he was thinking along the same lines.

"I am afraid that is not proof enough," he said seriously. "Remus, would you like to help us? You might be able to remember the smell of young Mister Potter from the time when his parents were alive?" Remus grinned and looked like he was forcefully containing laughter. He stood up and walked down to the young man claiming to their lost saviour. Harry watched him come with a small smirk. He was looking forward to this.

Remus sniffed Harry, while both tried not to laugh. Harry had to stifle a laugh when Remus poked him in the chest and proclaimed in a very mock serious voice, "I remember very well Harry's scent. This young man is who he claims to be." Then he turned and walked back up to the teacher's table and retook his seat. Harry could practically see the question marks on some of the younger students' faces. He knew that the oldest ones would remember Remus's non-human status, but the youngest ones would be clueless.

Dumbledore looked like he turned several years younger the moment Remus made is proclamation, it didn't even look like he saw the obvious humour on both Harry and Remus's faces. The twinkle in the Headmasters eyes reached new heights and almost blinded Harry. Harry blinked to remove the impression of staring at the sun.

"Well, my boy, then if you would step forward to the Sorting Hat," Dumbledore said jovially. "We will get you Sorted in no time. You have after all been listed as a Hogwarts student since you were born and since you're now enrolled _again_ you have a double reason for being here."

Harry inclined his head gratefully and walked up to the podium that the Head Table stood upon. Then he walked purposely towards Remus and stopped right in front of him. There he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. Remus grinned at him.

"Uncle Moony. Why did you not inform me that you would be here?" Harry asked in a voice that clearly stated that he would have liked to know in advance. Remus grinned even wider. The whispers started again, but not as loud as before. People craned their necks to see their professor's reaction.

"Because I wanted to see if I could throw you off guard," Remus said lightly. "Obviously that didn't work. What must a man do to surprise his honorary godson nowadays?" He shook his head mock-resignedly. Harry snorted.

"Much more than that, that's for sure," he said. "Especially after said godson practically grew up with two of the Marauders. Honestly, there isn't much that can surprise me anymore." This time it was Remus's turn to snort.

"No, you are probably right," he said. At that moment, McGonagall got out of her daze and gestured Harry towards the stool where the Sorting Hat lay. The rest of the staff and all the students watched curiously.

"Potter, Harry" she called out, more out of habit than of necessity. Harry waved at Remus before he walked over to the stool and sat down. McGonagall sat the Hat on his head.

"_Ah, Mister Potter_," a voice said in Harry's head. Harry smiled; he had been expecting it. "_Dumbledore has been wondering when you might show up. I know, because I have heard him have several meetings about you. You have created quite a stir, you know._"

'_That's something to be proud of, I suppose. Managing to upset the Headmaster without even being there_,' Harry thought back to the Hat.

"_Yes, you are quite right_," the voice said back, sounding amused. "_And what a mind you have here. I see you have been quite busy in your absent years. Hmm, you value knowledge; Ravenclaw would be a good House for you, Mister Potter. But I think Gryffindor would suit you even better, with your bravery. I can't quite see you in Hufflepuff though; you would probably eat them alive._" Harry snorted at the thought.

A pause. Then,

"_No, the House that suits you the most, I see, is Slytherin,_"the Hat continued."_Oh yes, I can't possibly place you anywhere else. That guardian of yours would be most upset if I did, I suspect."_ Harry chuckled. The Hat had hit spot on with that assessment.

"_Steel yourself, Mister Potter, people here has quite the ideals about you,_" the Hat warned, humour lacing its voice. Harry chuckled again. "SLYTHERIN!" the last word was shouted for the whole Hall to hear.

Dead silence met his ears when he lifted the Hat off. He raised an eyebrow questioningly. People wore shocked faces that looked most unbecoming. Several of them were gaping. He stood swiftly and walked towards his new table. He faintly heard Remus mutter about Sirius owing him 20 galleons. Harry smirked.

He plonked down on a seat across from a blonde boy that looked about his age. The boy was almost gaping at him. The dark-haired boy next to him actually gaped. He leaned over the table and closed his mouth.

"Not very attractive that," he said, smirking. The other boy didn't loose his jaw, but his eyes still looked slightly round. Harry ignored it and turned towards the Headmaster who was probably going to say some words before the food arrived.

The Headmaster actually looked taken aback, something most of the student population never thought they would see.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, clearing his throat. "Now, since everyone has been Sorted," here he threw a look at Harry, "it is time for some information for all our students, new and old. The Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden. The curfew is at 9 pm, and everyone caught after that will be dealt with by the patrolling teachers. The list of forbidden artefacts has again grown during the summer and is now including every article from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Everyone who wishes to see what those objects are, are free to check the list that hangs on Mr Filch's door.

"That was it for now, so tuck in!" he clapped his hands and smiled a grandfatherly smile at everyone.

The food instantly appeared on the tables. The Headmaster sat down and started an animated discussion with Professor McGonagall. They kept sending glances in the direction of Harry and, to a lesser extend, Remus. Harry smirked again.

"Welcome to Slytherin, Potter," the dark haired boy in front of him said and held out a hand. A hushed silence fell over the Slytherin Table. Harry shook his hand, and noticed with satisfaction that the boy had a firm handshake. "My name is Blaise Zabini." People from the other tables craned their necks to see them, and it looked like they were trying very hard to hear what was being said.

"Pleasure," Harry answered with a slight smile.

"Oh, I assure you, the pleasure is all mine," Blaise all but purred. The blonde next to him rolled his eyes at Blaise's tone of voice. Harry raised an eyebrow. He leaned slightly forward on the table and looked Blaise straight in the eyes.

"You shouldn't be so sure about that," he said in a soft voice that nearly made Blaise drool. Harry grinned inwardly; he had perfected that tone of voice. It came from living above a quite popular night club. He leaned back in his seat and picked out some food.

"Draco Malfoy," the blonde said and Harry took a pause in eating to shake hands with Draco.

"Pleasure again," he answered, now in a normal voice. "Maybe the two of you could tell me why people seem so shocked that I would end up in Slytherin?" Harry had decided to start out ignorant; it was amazing the amount of information you could gather from acting like you knew nothing. Blaise had rather glassy eyes still, so Harry turned toward Draco.

"Well, you have quite the reputation here, Potter," Draco Malfoy said. Harry held up a hand.

"Please, just Harry," Harry interrupted. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. Harry then," he said. "As I was saying, people here look up to you as some kind of God. They worship you like a second Merlin." Here he threw a look at Harry that clearly stated that the Slytherins didn't agree; Harry smirked back at him. He never wanted to be a hero and Slytherin would never view him as one, a match made in Heaven.

"But almost everyone thought you were dead," Blaise said, now coming back from la-la-land and joining the conversation while he piled food onto his plate. "You weren't in the School Protocols anymore, after what I heard. They have been searching for you ever since they discovered that you were gone. And then the Dark Lord came back, and everyone was talking about how they needed you to save them." Harry raised an eyebrow.

"But Voldemort –" everyone around him flinched and gave him wide-eyed looks. He rolled his eyes at them "– came back when I was eleven, what could they possibly believe that I could do?" he asked rhetorically. "People need to learn how to take care of their own problems instead of placing them on someone else. The Wizarding world of Britain are filled with cowards that would rather a child fought their battles for them. What message does that send?" The Slytherins around were now nodding their agreement. The girl sitting next to Harry held out her hand and Harry shook it.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson," she said and batted her eyelashes seductively. Harry blinked. Draco rolled his eyes again. Harry always felt awkward when girls flirted with him.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Parkinson," he answered neutrally. She looked slightly disappointed, but Harry really didn't care.

"I agree with you, Potter. The Wizarding world is far too dependant on a child," she said. "We need to make some changes in our world if we are going to survive for much longer. The problem is that most people prefer to have someone else deal with their problems. Since you already have defeated the Dark Lord once they are convinced that you can do it again, and then they won't need to do anything."

"Please call me Harry," Harry said as a way of answering her statement. Pansy nodded her agreement.

"Only if you call me Pansy," she answered. Harry inclined his head to show that he agreed.

"This is a _way_ too heavy discussion to have at the Feast," Blaise interrupted, swallowing a huge mouthful of Yorkshire pudding, effectively putting a stop to the discussion. "I would like to know where you have been and why Hogwarts thought you were dead, but I'm not going to ask because it's none of my business. I do wonder though, why you didn't seem the slightest bit surprised that you were sorted into Slytherin and from where you know Professor Lupin?" Harry smiled a small smile.

"I have always been somewhat of a Slytherin. Even before I knew what Slytherin was," he said. "And my guardian is very much a Slytherin. As to where I know Professor Lupin from; he was a very good friend of my parents. He and Sirius Black were my father's best friends. Sirius is my godfather, but they are both like a pair of uncles to me." Draco and Blaise gave him incredulous looks.

"Are you telling me that both Lupin and Black have known where you were for all these years and didn't tell anyone?" Draco asked disbelievingly. Harry smiled cheerily and nodded. He knew that his uncles had been the lead figures for the hunt for him, and they had had many laughs about that fact.

"Yup. That's exactly what I'm telling you," Harry grinned. "They have pretended not to know because I needed and wanted the peace of being out of the public. And of course, they have enjoyed keeping this from Dumbledore." He grinned some more. Draco mused, for the second time that evening that it was incredible how he could do a real-looking grin without his teeth showing.

"Who is that red-head at the Gryffindor Table, by the way?" Harry asked. "The boy who asked to see my scar?" Draco gave a long suffering sigh.

"That was Ronald Weasley," he said. "He is the leader of a small gang of Slytherin-hating Gryffindors. You will probably meet him soon enough." Harry sighed.

"Oh how I am looking forward to that," he said sarcastically. "Are there more people I need to look out for?"

"Ginny Weasley," Blaise said promptly. "She's a fifth year, the boy-Weasley's younger sister and one of your biggest fans." Harry blinked again.

"Where did you get that information from?" Harry wondered. Blaise smirked.

"I am a bottomless source of gossip," he declared proudly. "I know everything that goes on inside the walls of Hogwarts. The things I don't know about the student population are not worth knowing." Harry raised an eyebrow and turned questioningly towards Draco, who nodded.

"It's true," he confirmed. "Blaise is the biggest gossip-queen in Hogwarts." The boy in question puffed out his chest and grinned. Pansy and Draco rolled their eyes at their friend's behaviour.

"Queen?" Harry asked with an eyebrow raised. Draco nodded.

"Yes. Queen," he answered. "He dresses up as a woman when the mood strikes him." Both of Harry's eyebrows were raised now. He glanced over to Blaise to see his reaction. Blaise stuck out his tongue at Draco.

"It was once," he said petulantly. "And I was drunk. _And_ it was a dare. From you, nonetheless." Harry grinned again. He thought he would learn to like these people.

When everyone had eaten, dinner disappeared and the dessert came. Everyone helped themselves with their favourites and ate heartily.

"The Hogwarts food is really something to behold," Harry said with raised eyebrows as he looked out over the desserts. There were tarts, cakes, every taste of ice-cream imaginable, several plates of fruits and some for some odd reason, Bertie Blott's Every Flavoured Beans. Harry took out a lollypop from his pocket, unwrapped it and put it in his mouth. The people around him raised questioning eyebrows, he ignored them.

"Yes, the House Elves here are really doing a good job," Blaise said with his mouth filled with treacle tart. Draco looked at his friend in disgust.

"Please refrain from talking with your mouth open, Blaise," he said; his voice full of disdain. Pansy snorted.

"Like you can expect Blaise to have proper table manners," she muttered. "I gave up on that long time ago, at least." Draco nodded his agreement.

"You're right, Pansy," he said sadly and shook his head. "He is truly a lost cause." Harry snickered lightly.

They continued with light conversation until the Headmaster stood up and the rest of the dessert promptly disappeared.

"Well, now that everyone seems to be watered and fed, off to bed you go! Prefects, show the first years the way to their new common rooms," he said and clapped his hands to signal that he was done and everyone was to do as he said.

The Slytherins stood up and Draco called the First years to him. Harry followed them, happily sucking at his blood pop.

Draco stopped in front of the wall in the middle of a corridor down in the dungeons.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room," he said. "You better remember where it is, and what the password is because no one is going to open if you knock. Understood?" All the little First years nodded eagerly.

"The password is 'parseltongue'," he said. "It will change every other week, so pay attention when the new password is announced."

When they entered the common room, Harry noted that it was exactly like it was in the painting he had seen of it. Opposite from the door they came in stood a large fireplace with an emerald green fire dancing in it. Scattered orderly, if something like that was even possible, around the room was several couches and chairs, all in green and looking very comfortable and inviting. Worktables were also placed against the walls here and there. On both sides of the room, doors led out of the common room and probably to dorms and bathrooms, Harry thought.

_I think I can like it here_, Harry mused. _Yes, suitable dark and comfy. A good mixture of both, just as he said._

"Boys dorms are on the left, while girls dorms are on the right," Draco said and pointed at the doors. All the First Years walked towards their respective dorms, while some of the older years stayed in the common room. Draco beckoned Harry over to where Pansy and Blaise sat by the fireplace.

"So, Harry," Pansy started in a decidedly flirty manner. "Where have you been for these years?" Harry lifted an eyebrow at her.

"Here and there," he answered neutrally. Pansy gave him a look that Harry read as 'spill it', but he really didn't feel the need to inform a girl he had just met about his whereabouts. Draco looked like he understood Harry's reasoning and rolled his eyes.

"Pansy, we should go inform the First years to come back," Draco said. Pansy nodded reluctantly, and the two of them left to gather the First years. Harry lifted a questioning eyebrow to Blaise.

"Professor Snape, our Head of House, have a welcome speech of some sort every year," he answered. "Everyone needs to be present, especially the First years of course." Harry nodded in understanding. The name was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place it. He knew he had heard it before, but at the moment his brain was being quite slow.

Draco and Pansy came back, followed by the First years. Everyone seated themselves comfortable in the chairs and couches around the room.

The door to the common room opened and Professor Snape stepped through. The opening closed automatically behind him. Professor Snape eyed the occupants of the room carefully. He stopped briefly on Harry, who was still sucking on his blood pop, before wandering on to the next student.

"Welcome to Slytherin," the Professor said. His voice was smooth and dangerous, Harry found himself shivering pleasantly. "I am Severus Snape, your Head of House and the Potions Professor. If you have any problems you are to come to me. _But_ if you come whining about homesickness, do not expect any comfort from me," here he sneered. Harry was in awe. He was in the company of _the_ Potions Master Severus Snape. How come no one told him that _Snape_ was working here? And how come he didn't remember the name? He had been a big fan of Master Snape's work since he was 10!

"There are some rules about being a Slytherin. Rules that you are expected to learn," Professor Snape continued. "The first rule is that no Slytherin walk in the hallways here alone. You will find that many of the other Houses do not like us very much.

"The second is that no Slytherin are caught. I do not care what you do, as long as you _don't get_ _caught_." Harry grinned in anticipation.

"The third rule is that Slytherins protect their own. We do not fight against each other. If you have disagreements between each other, I expect you to solve those inside the common room. We present a united front to the rest of the school.

"There are more rules; you can find them in the rule book in the bookshelves. There are more copies of it there and it should be enough for everyone of the new student to learn the rules before next week. I _will_ be checking to see if you have learned it." Professor Snape ended his speech and glared around the room again. Then he abruptly turned on his heel and walked back out.

"We should head to bed," Draco said in the silence that followed. "Severus told me we will have Potions tomorrow morning, and I do not wish to awaken his wrath this early in the school year." Blaise and Pansy hurriedly nodded their agreements. Pansy then bid them goodnight and skipped off to her dorm. Harry was still in a daze, knowing that the man behind so many potions books and articles and _inventions_, was actually his Head of House. He shook his head and walked over to the bookshelf.

"You'll be sleeping in the same dorm as us, Harry," Blaise said, eyes shining mischievously. Harry was absentmindedly looking over the titles.

"Good to know. I didn't really think about that," Harry answered and picked a copy of the Slytherin Handbook. "Good to know not all my roommates will be complete dunderheads."

"You sounded like Severus there for a moment," Draco said with accusing eyes. "I do not wish to share a room with a mini-Severus, just so you know it." Blaise snorted and Harry shook his head to get rid of unwanted pictures in his head.

"No worries, Draco," he said. "I'm not turning into "mini-Severus"," he said. "Why do you call him Severus, by the way? He doesn't strike me as a person that would allow his student to call him by his first name."

"He's my godfather," Draco said. Harry nodded to show that he had understood and didn't fault Draco for forgetting to mention it.

They walked into a room that was already occupied by three other people. Two of them were rather bulky; the third had a more slender look.

"This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle," Draco introduced the two bulky ones first. "And this is Theodore Nott," he gestured toward the last one. Theodore wasn't that bad-looking Harry decided. How could it be that most of the boys in Slytherin were good-looking? Harry thought.

"I prefer Theo, if you would," Theo said and held out a hand for Harry to shake. Harry did just that.

"Pleasure to meet you," Harry answered. He didn't even bother to introduce himself after the introduction done in the Great Hall. Everyone was sure to know who he was anyway now.

Harry sat on his bed when everyone started to get ready to bed. He noticed that both Blaise and Theo sent him discrete looks, but pretended not to have noticed. He sucked on his blood pop and opened the Slytherin Handbook. He knew all the rules, but wanted to have something to do all night. It wasn't as though he was going to sleep.

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_There it is! The next instalment of this story! Feedback is welcomed!_

_Anyone have any tips, ideas or something to help this story, please let me know! Or maybe you just want to tell me what you think? I would appreciate that too *grins*_

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	3. Chapter 2 Where Harry Meets Hogwarts

_Sweet Merlin! The response! *is floored* Over a thousand hits and more review than I ever thought I would get on my first chapters! Oh, I had dreams, but I really didn't think I would actually get this much response! *grins happily*_

_Here is the third instalment of my fic. Hopefully you'll enjoy this *grins* I know I enjoyed writing it!_

_This is dedicated to my friend who felt left out after the last chapter! *grins* You know who you are!_

_**Random Observation:**__ I just realized that "left" and "felt" consists of the same letters, and this amuses me more than it should…_

_**Disclaimer:**__ It's still not mine, I'm afraid *pouts* But I do claim the idea! *brightens up*_

_Warnings are in the first chapter!_

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**Chapter 2 – Where Harry Meets Hogwarts**

The next morning saw the Slytherin sixth years coming into the Great Hall together. The boys had been surprised when they saw the Boy Who Lived sitting up in his bed, reading. In the exact same position as he was in the night before.

Harry, on the other hand, wanted to crawl under the covers and just stay there. He sent his bed longing glances when he was forced to leave his bed. The book he had been reading was exiting too. He sighed heavily.

They took their time to do their morning routine, and then walked to breakfast together. Harry was scowling and didn't talk except from grunting noises when someone talked to him. When they entered the Great Hall, said boy gave the sunny ceiling a glare that promised pain.

Now he was sitting down at the table and looking around. He was still scowling heavily and several of the younger students had already been in the receiving end of his apparent bad mood.

"Where's the coffee?" he asked grumpily. It was the most words he had said all morning. Draco raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't think there is any," he answered. Harry's eyes widened and he looked around the table. He developed a tick in his left eyebrow and the gleam in his eyes actually looked a bit insane.

"No coffee?" he asked. His voice was almost scary now. Blaise edged away, while grabbing a muffin from the platter in front of Harry.

"Not at this table, maybe the teachers have some?" he said. Harry turned sharply toward the teachers table and looked intensely at them. He sniffed the air. Yes, coffee! But where? He saw professor Snape lifting an eyebrow questioningly towards him, but ignored it. Harry scowled and stood up.

In a few strides he was standing in front of the Headmaster. Dumbledore looked up, looking a bit startled. Had Harry been in his usual cheerful mood he would have delighted in making the Headmaster surprised.

"Why is there no coffee at the Slytherin Table?" he asked shortly. Once again, his voice weren't very loud, but everyone in the Hall was paying attention now. It wasn't every day students walked up to the Headmaster during mealtime, and the student population of Hogwarts always kept their eyes open for gossip.

"Because no one ever asked, my dear boy," the Headmaster said, having found his wit again. Harry scowled.

"I can smell coffee. Where is the coffee?" he demanded. Before the Headmaster could answer, someone did for him.

"Come here, Harry," said Professor Lupin, chuckling and looking disgustingly cheerful, in Harry's opinion. He was sitting next to Professor Snape a bit further down the table. "I have coffee for you." Harry immediately stopped glaring at his honorary uncle, walked up to him and snatched the cup he was holding. He drained it and held the cup out, expecting more. Remus chuckled before filling the cup again. Harry drained the cup again and seized the coffee pot. He then walked back to the Slytherin Table, holding the coffee pot as if it was the most valuable thing in the world. The whole room was watching him warily, but a few snickers could be heard.

He sat down in front of an amused looking Draco and a surprised looking Blaise.

"Addicted much?" Draco asked. Harry scowled at him before returning his attention to the cup he was filling with black goodness.

"Most British people don't appreciate coffee enough. That tea is thought as the stereotypical British drink is beyond me," he grumbled and took a gulp of his cup. Blaise came out of his shock and snickered.

"You managed to surprise the Headmaster!" he said, pleased. Harry didn't answer; he was too busy scowling at Remus who was laughing at him from the teachers table. He narrowed his eyes even more towards his uncle, and drained his third cup before filling it again.

"And how long does it take for the caffeine to work?" Pansy asked worriedly. "We have Potions in ten minutes." She waived the timetable Professor Snape had just given them. Harry stared at her.

"I'll be fine when it's time for class," he said. His voice was already more awake than it had been only moments later.

The only breakfast Harry had was five cups of coffee. Pansy had tried to get him to eat, but Harry had refused, saying that "solid food smells horrible in the morning". This had drawn a snort from Professor Lupin who had just walked past them on his way out.

Then they were on their way to Potions. They had Potions shared with the Gryffindors, something that was a cause for many scowling faces. Harry had now woken properly and was practically skipping towards the classroom. He was almost giddy with the thought that _Severus Snape_ was going to teach him Potions. Almost being an operative word. He had been raised better than that.

"How is that even possible?" Blaise asked his two friends. "Not three minutes ago he was snarling at that irritating Gryffindor with the camera!" Draco was amused. He would never forget the look on the Creevey-kid's face when Harry had refused to be photographed. He had given the boy a look worthy of Snape's Death Glare™. Creevey had then paled to the point of being as white as the Bloody Baron and ran away. The Slytherins had been vastly amused, while Harry had started ranting about "bothersome paparazzi midgets who shouldn't be allowed to carry a camera".

They stopped outside the classroom and waited for the doors to open. Professor Snape never let his student in before class began, and those who weren't there at the assigned time would meet his wrath. The Slytherins still smirked and snickered about the little Gryffindor's fate, while the Gryffindors glared heatedly at them. Harry glared briefly back at them before the doors opened and the class filed in for their first Potions lesson of the year.

The Slytherins quickly took their seats at their side of the room, while the Gryffindors did the same. Some of the Gryffindors continued to send glares at the other side of the room.

Harry ended up sitting with a Gryffindor girl with bushy hair and brown eyes. They were an odd number of Slytherins, and she was the only available person without a partner. His fellow Slytherins send him pitying looks. To his confusion, the girl next to him received none of those looks from her fellow housemates.

Professor Snape closed the door with a wave of his wand, and started the lesson at once.

"Today you are going to make a Befuddlement Draught," he started. "This is a potion that you should all be able to make now. If I do not deem your potion good enough, you can pack up and leave this classroom." He sent a stern glare around the room to tell that he was indeed serious.

"You will of course be sitting in pair, but you will be making separate potions," he continued. "This is so that the more stupid of you cannot ruin the potion of those who can actually produce an acceptable one."

There was some scrambling as Gryffindors hastened to obey. The Slytherins took it more calmly and waited until the rush was over. Both Harry and his partner was smart enough to wait, and did just that.

"Hello, by the way," Harry said to the girl. He thought that he would probably end up partnering with her throughout the year and decided to be polite. The girl gave him a nervous look, as if she couldn't comprehend that he was talking to her, in a nice tone, even.

"Hello," she answered. "My name is Hermione Granger." She looked decidedly nervous to Harry, and he decided to try to ease her fear. He didn't want her to do something that would botch their potions. He smiled politely back, and received a warm smile from her. He didn't think it would be a bad thing to partner with her after all.

Harry picked up the necessary ingredients for them while Hermione turned on the heat beneath their cauldrons.

They worked quietly through the whole class, both ignoring glares from the Gryffindors.

"Do they see you as a traitor for being civil to a Slytherin?" Harry asked after a while. Hermione looked up, confused for a moment, before she shrugged.

"I would assume so," she said curtly. "But I have no friends among them anyway. What about the Slytherins?" Harry decided today was the day to play dumb.

"What about them?" he asked. Hermione shot him a look.

"You are being civil to a Gryffindor, and a Muggleborn," she said. "How would they react to that?" This time it was Harry's turn to shrug.

"I don't particularly care much," he said plainly. "I don't care about the rivalry between the two Houses and I am new, so I have an excuse should it be necessary. And I definitely do not care that your parents are Muggles. If anything you should be proud of being a Muggleborn." She shot him an incredulous stare.

"How so?" she asked curiously while shredding billywigs.

"Well, look at it this way," Harry started, and added his billywigs as Hermione did the same. "Those with Wizarding parentage know about our world, right? They knew about all this before they came here. Most of them have received warnings, basic tutoring in some cases and they have been taught an understanding of magic that children of Muggles do not have when they come here. This means that you have to learn more when you arrive. You have given up all you believed to be true and jumped into a new world where everything is turned upside-down. Muggleborns are brave. You go through a whole lot more than purebloods to get to the same place."

By the end of his short speech, Hermione was staring at him as if he had just told her that indeed, the moon _was_ a green cheese, hadn't anyone taught her that yet? Some of the Gryffindors were close enough to have heard him, and had similar expressions on their faces. He quirked an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you didn't know this beforehand?" he said. Hermione shook herself out of her daze.

"Well,_ I_ did, but I never thought I would hear a Slytherin tell me this," she said, still looking a bit dazed. "I didn't think those who knew about magic their whole life was able to imagine how it was for those who didn't."

"Yes, that's where I'm different, I suppose," Harry chuckled. "I haven't known about magic for my entire life. I learned about the magical world when I was five. Before that, I lived with Muggles." Hermione nodded in understanding.

"So you know the Muggle world. That's good," she said while stirring the potion. "I haven't found that many Muggleborns or Halfbloods here. Not that I feel to talk about at least."

"And I think I can safely bet that there is none in my house," Harry grinned. Hermione smiled tentatively back.

The rest of the class was spent working on the potion and chatting pleasantly. Harry found that Hermione was a smart witch. She worked hard, he got the impression that she worked too hard. She would question Harry about himself, because everyone knew that he had disappeared years earlier. She gave him the same look Pansy had given him the night before and Harry thought that if it weren't for their houses the two girls would get on very well. Too well, he suspected, and resolved never to introduce them to each other.

Professor Snape came by to check on their potions, and only nodded curtly when he saw that they were exactly as they should be. Harry had always liked Potions; he had a knack for it too. He also harboured a massive amount of respect towards his Head of House because of his inventions in the Potions branch. The Wolfsbane Potion, amongst others, was an invention of Snape's. Harry made Wolfsbane for Remus every month and had done so since he was thirteen.

The only excitement was when the cauldron belonging to a Gryffindor girl a few seats from Harry and Hermione, started to bubble excessively. The potion was a vicious yellow liquid and when the bubbles exploded, the yellow puss-like substance spilled outside the cauldron. Her partner, a Gryffindor boy, yelled and hurriedly stepped away. Professor Snape angrily stalked towards her and vanished the substance that was no-where near a Befuddlement Draught with a sneer.

"If you are so incompetent that you do not know how to read, then you have no business here, Miss Brown," he said to the distraught girl. "Since you cannot comprehend the simple task this is, you have nothing to do here. Leave this classroom, and see your Head of House for a change in schedule immediately." The girl, apparently a Miss Brown, whimpered and nodded hurriedly.

Harry heard the sniggers coming from the Slytherins and he couldn't help but join. The potion they were making was fifth year material, and this clearly showed that Brown had nothing to do in this classroom.

When class was over, both Harry and Hermione had produced potions that Professor Snape deemed as acceptable. Meaning they were "bloody perfect", according to Harry.

The one unfortunate Gryffindor was sent away from the class, with a message to never set foot in Professor Snape's classroom again. Harry was impressed at the speed she disappeared in. He was learning that the Potions Master had control over his students.

Harry joined his classmates in the hallway after class, and they walked towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"You are lucky you were not here in the earlier years, Harry," Draco said.

"How so?" Harry asked curiously. Blaise sniggered.

"Two words: Neville Longbottom," Draco said with a flourish. "He was a hazard to everyone around him in there. Even the simplest of potions were a weapon in his hands!"

"He was the only student that had his own desk during fifth year," Blaise continued. "No one wanted to pair with him. Granger did a few times, but even she couldn't stop the disasters he made out of his potions. Needless to say, he failed." Harry grinned. No wonder Professor Snape was so severe in his class: He was stopping disasters on a daily basis.

"By the way: Why did you seem so friendly with Granger, Harry?" Pansy interrupted in a disdainful voice before Harry could comment on Longbottom's failures. "I'm aware that you will most probably end up partnering her for the rest of the year, but there was no need for that excessive friendliness. She is a Gryffindor! And a Muggleborn at that!"

"And let us not forget that she is also a know-it-all and a goody two-shoes," Blaise added his two Knut to the conversation. Harry glared at them both.

"I do not particularly care about the House rivalries I see here," he answered. "Hermione seems like a nice girl and, apparently, she has no friends in Gryffindor. I like to give people a chance before deciding I don't like them." He huffed angrily and sat down at the Slytherin table. Draco rolled his eyes.

"She is insufferable in class," Draco said. "She is a teacher's pet and always tries to prove just how much better she is than all the other students." He picked out some food for his plate and started eating, while at the same time trying hard not to look at Blaise who was stuffing his face with everything edible within reach.

"That's bullshit and you know it," Harry said. The three Purebloods hw as talking to stared in shock and outrage. "Many Muggleborns feel that they have to prove themselves to those raised by magic. It's not all that odd, when you think about it." He picked out some salad and started eating. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Draco, Blaise and Pansy were thinking about what he said. If he managed to show a few Purebloods how the Muggleborns felt like, he was happy.

Suddenly a 'pop' sounds interrupted the meal. It came from the middle of the Great Hall. Several heads turned to see what the made the sound and many astonished sounds sounded around the room. Harry took one look, and paled. Draco sent him a questioning look, but decided to not ask.

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_You're curious now, aren't you? M__wahahahaha! *rubs hands evilly*_

_This is my first cliff-hanger! *swells with pride*_

_I wonder if making a cliff-hanger makes me evil? I'll leave that assessment up to you, I think. *grins*_

_It can seem like there's a change in attitude from Pansy, but none of the Slytherins like Muggleborn, they just don't want them dead. See; they're getting deeper personalities! *is proud*_

_So, anyone want to leave me a review? I would greatly appreciate it if you did! Even if it is to cyber-yell at me for leaving my first official cliff-hanger!_


	4. Chapter 3 Where Harry Meets Dumbledore

_*hides behind her computer* Don't hurt me! I know I promised in several reviews to update during the Easter holiday, and I know that said holiday ended long time ago, but I have an explanation! The holiday was more busy than I thought, and when it ended, my computer got sick *pouts* It went into a coma, and had to go to the hospital. And then, when I got it back, the computer-doctor told me it could die anytime. So yeah, my computer is dying *cries* He's too young to die!__ *sniffles*_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own it *pouts*_

_**Out of curiosity**__: When someone says that I threw a monkey wrench in my story, is that meant as a flame? I couldn't decide if it was an insult or if the reviewer was just miffed at the cliff-hanger.. My friends couldn't help me either, so I ask you guys. Anyone knows?_

**oOo**

**Chapter 3 – ****Where Harry Meets Dumbledore**

There stood a House Elf, wearing a pink frilly apron. Her skin was purple and the tuft of hair on top of her head was bright orange. She was glaring in a frightening way for a House Elf and seemed to be looking for something, or someone. She spotted Harry by the Slytherin table and marched over to him, while waving a spatula threateningly.

"What is Spiffy telling Master Harry sir about pranking the kitchen doors?" she asked in a shrill, but somehow scary voice. She waved her spatula in Harry's face. He cast fearful glances at the offending kitchen utensil. "You is being very bad!" Harry looked like he feared this small, funny coloured creature more than anything.

"It wasn't meant to hit you, Spiffy!" he said in self-defence. "It was meant for Uncle Padfoot!" The enraged House Elf's glare intensified.

"Master Paddy is never up before noon, and young Master Harry knows this," she said angrily. "Now, un-colour Spiffy! Spiffy is not liking being purple!" The purple House Elf actually stomped her foot at that. Harry nodded meekly and got out his wand. He waved it over the House Elf and mumbled in Latin. The House Elf's colour turned back to the usual green. She nodded strictly and disappeared with a 'pop'.

The rest of the Hall was now staring at Harry and wondering what they hell _that_ was about. Stifled laughter sounded from the Head Table. Remus was trying his hardest not to laugh of his godson. He eventually gave up and laughed loudly while wiping tears of laughter from his face. Harry glared at him, before giving up and snorting, showing his amusement of what had happened.

"What was up with that elf?" Draco asked curiously. Harry shuddered and looked at Draco in honesty.

"She is by far the scariest House Elf in existence," he said with conviction. "I have seen her do the most terrifying things to the people who mess with her kitchen or her. Do not let her innocent look fool you! She is practically the Devil incarnate!" Draco and Blaise both raised eyebrows to show their disbelief. Harry huffed and continued eating his salad in silence. Pansy was sniggering quietly in random intervals, and Harry tried his hardest to ignore her. He knew people were laughing silently of him and his fear of a House Elf, but none of them knew the true evil that was Spiffy.

"You owe me money, Harry," said Professor Lupin from behind Harry. Then he walked on towards his classroom. Harry rolled his eyes, thinking how stupid it was of him to continue to believe that he would win a bet with Remus.

"Note to self; never bet with Remus again," Harry mumbled. Blaise gave him a wide-eyed look.

"You bet with a teacher?" he asked, amazed. "You managed to make prissy Professor Lupin bet? How did you do that?" Harry snorted.

"Making Remus bet isn't that difficult," he said. "Remus is too damn intuitive. I should know by now not to bet with him, but for some reason I always think that I'm going to beat him." He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "And he's not that prissy, Blaise. Believe me." Harry shuddered when he remembered the more…_questionable_ situations he had walked in on Sirius and Remus in. Prissy was not the first word that came to mind when describing the man.

They all got up and moved to the next class, which was Transfiguration. Harry was looking forward to it, even though it wasn't his favourite class. He knew that Professor McGonagall was supposed to be one of the best Transfiguration Mistresses in Britain. Hogwarts had some of the best instructors possible.

Harry had to follow the others as he was new to the castle, but he decided that he really needed to explore it. Maybe that was something for him to do that night? Oh, he knew the basic layout of the castle and several hidden passageways, but he needed to learn how to navigate. Knowing where things were on a map wasn't the same as knowing where things were in real life.

The Transfiguration classroom was bright. The windows were open and the curtains drawn. Harry grimaced and found a seat partly in the shadows. Draco raised an eyebrow, but decided to take the seat next to him. Blaise sat in the seat behind them, and was joined by a Ravenclaw Harry didn't know the name of. It was a shared class with Slytherins and Ravenclaw. Not many students took Advanced Transfiguration; most stopped taking it after O.W.L.s.

"How is Professor McGonagall as a teacher?" he asked Draco.

"She's fair," Draco said. "She doesn't favour her own House and she treats everyone as equals. She's also very strict in her classes. Don't mess in her class, Harry," he warned. "She doesn't take lightly to that." Harry nodded. He could understand that. Transfiguration could be dangerous if it wasn't done carefully. Especially in the N.E.W.T. year, where they learned the most difficult and dangerous transfiguration spells.

Professor McGonagall entered the classroom and put her papers on the desk in front of the blackboard. A piece of chalk started writing on the board while the professor started the class.

"Welcome to Advanced Transfiguration," she started. "I will not tolerate any foolishness in my class. Those of you that endanger your classmates by rash acts or tomfoolery will be sent out of this class and asked not to return." The silence was as complete as it was during Potions class.

Before McGonagall could continue with her speech, a flash of fire appeared over her desk. The entire class stared at the red feather and the piece of parchment that fell down on the desk. McGonagall huffed at the interruption and read the note. Her mouth thinned, and she looked quite irritated.

"Mr Potter, you are wanted at the Headmaster's office," she said curtly. "Mr Malfoy, walk him to the office and return immediately here afterwards." Harry and Draco got up, Harry gathered his bag. McGonagall handed Harry a note before the boys left, explaining that it was the current password to the Headmaster's office. He let out a relieved breath when they entered the darker hallway.

"Wonder what he wants," Harry said and let Draco lead the way through the hallways. The blonde gave an elegant shrug.

"Probably an interrogation," he answered somewhat airily. "I'm guessing they want to know where you've been and who you've been with. Prepare yourself!" The last was said in an entertained voice and Harry caught the amused half-smile the other boy sent him. Harry groaned.

"I'm not in the mood to be interrogated," he said and pulled on a strand of hair in annoyance. It was a habit he hadn't quite gotten rid of yet. "I don't want to answer a bunch of questions about my whereabouts. It's none of their business!" He huffed angrily and his walk turned brisk. He showed his hands in the pockets of his trousers and scowled at the floor.

"They can't force you to answer, but they will most likely ask," the blonde wizard walking next to him said. "Dumbledore is a very nosy old man." They stopped in front of an ugly statue of a gargoyle.

"We're here," Draco said. Then he smirked, "Good luck!" And walked away. Harry was left scowling at his back, before he turned toward the statue with a sigh. He looked down at the note in his hand and raised an eyebrow at what it said.

"Snickers?" he said doubtfully to the gargoyle. The statue came to life and moved away revealing a small room with a spiralling staircase. Harry walked in and stepped on the staircase. He nearly jumped off when the thing started to _move_. He stood completely still as the staircase brought him up to a solid wooden door with a doorknocker. He knocked and waited patiently for it to open.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice said from the inside of the office.

Harry stepped inside and could practically hear the doomsday music in his head. He scowled briefly when he noticed that the headmaster was not alone. His new Head of House was there, so was Remus and Sirius, and some people he didn't recognize. He guessed the last ones were either Ministry people that thought his business was their business or they were members of Dumbledore's little group.

"There you are, my boy. Please, have a seat," Dumbledore greeted and showed to a seat directly in front of his desk. Remus and Sirius were sitting in chairs at the side, while Professor Snape was standing in the shadows looking mighty displeased. The two other people were standing at opposite side from Sirius and Remus. Harry sat down and stared at Dumbledore expectantly. He had been told on numerous occasions that he had unnerving eyes, and he was using this to his advantage.

"Was there anything specific you wanted to talk about, Headmaster?" he asked politely. "_Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof,_" he chanted in his head. It was the mantra he used when in uncomfortable situations.

"The Ministry would like to know where you have been, boy," a pompous voice declared from the side. It was one of the two unknown people. He was slightly rotund and clutching a hideous bowler hat as if his life depended on it. Harry raised an eyebrow at the man to show that he was not impressed.

"And you are?" he asked, dismissing his mantra for a moment to show the man how he didn't appreciate the interruption. The man gaped, much like a fish out of water. Harry thought he rather resembled one too. Then the bowler-man puffed out his chest and put on an important face.

"I am the Minister of Magic!" he proclaimed, sounding very important. Harry nodded, and then turned back to the Headmaster.

"Was there anything specific you wanted to talk about, Headmaster?" he asked again, as if the bowler-man hadn't spoken. "_He didn't even introduce himself! How rude!_" Harry thought to himself. Sirius snickered in the chair next to Harry, and the Headmaster's eyes twinkled. _Twinkled!_ It was a bit unnerving.

"I'm wondering if you would like to share your whereabouts in the last years, my boy," the Headmaster said. Harry stared. Where did these people learn manners exactly?

"I cannot see how it concerns you, Headmaster," he answered, putting pressure on the last word to signify why he didn't think it was any of Dumbledore's concern. "I had no desire to come into the Wizarding World with my birth name because of the attention it would cause. I am in no way interested in this _fame_. My guardian thought it would be of my best interest if I was prepared for it before I came to Hogwarts. So he home-schooled me until he deemed me ready." The Headmaster had twinkled less and less during Harry's talk. The bowler-man was clutching the before mentioned hat so tightly Harry was sure it would have permanent hand marks.

"Your guardian is another question," the Headmaster continued. "I would like to know why you were not with your aunt and uncle, your family." Harry felt himself stiffen and he narrowed his eyes.

"That is none of your business," he said shortly. This was not a subject he wanted to discuss. Sirius and Remus had stiffened in their seats and were also giving Dumbledore slight glares.

"Now that Voldemort" (bowler-man and his companion flinched violently) "is back it is not safe for you," Dumbledore said gravely. "He will try to harm you and you will be safer with your family. There are wards around their house that will keep you safe from Voldemort" (more flinching) "while you are home on vacation."

"With all due respect, Headmaster," Harry said evenly. "I do not see how any of this concerns you. My home is perfectly safe. You have not yet succeeded in finding me there; the Ministry have been looking for me too. No one found me. I will not go the Dursleys, and I do not consider them family. My family is my guardian, Remus, Sirius and a few chosen others. The Dursleys is not on that list."

The Headmaster looked very disappointed, but Harry couldn't care less. He thought the Headmaster was being very rude and presumptuous. _Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof._

"If there was nothing more, Headmaster, I do have a class to return to," Harry said expectantly. _Cool, polite, aloof._ "Professor McGonagall did not seem too happy about me leaving her class." McGonagall was intimidating for sure, and Harry didn't want to miss more of her class than was necessary.

"You were in McGonagall's class?" Sirius said, his eyes going slightly round. "And she let you go?"

"She had to, Padfoot. But that doesn't mean she have to like it," he turned back to Dumbledore. "So, can I go?" Why should he be so polite when they were all so rude? Dumbledore had lost that twinkle in his eye, and Harry had a feeling that he was supposed to feel bad about that. Too bad he wasn't. _Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof._

"Yes, that was all we wanted to ask you, Mr Potter," the Headmaster said heavily.

"Now, listen here, Dumbledore!" the Minister exclaimed from the side. Everyone turned toward him. "The boy hasn't answered any of the questions we asked him! We cannot let him go without knowing what he has been up to!" Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, but Harry beat him to it.

"With all due respect, Minister," he said in his most polite voice, while maintaining the mantra he had used too many times already in this meeting. _Cool, polite, aloof. Cool, polite, aloof._ "Where I have been is none of your concerns and therefore I am not obliged to answer your questions. I also find your interrogation to be very rude. So if you would excuse me, I have a class to return to." Harry stood up from his seat, and picked up his school bag. The Minister was left stuttering and his face was steadily turning redder and redder. Harry nodded respectfully to his Head of House and waved cheerily to Sirius and Remus before walking out. He could hear the Minister spluttering when he closed the door behind him.

Now all he needed was to find his way back to the classroom. He thought he could do it; he had a very good memory when it came to places. And the scent of Draco's expensive cologne lingered there still. Piece of cake then.

He reached the classroom with no further incidents and knocked before entering. McGonagall gave a nod in his direction before pointing to his seat. He sat down gratefully and concentrated on her lecture on the dangers of human transfiguration. Apparently, they would be working on the theory for some weeks before they could try it themselves.

When the bell rang, most of the students were quick to pack their several parchment worth of notes and rush out of the door.

"Finally!" Blaise exclaimed when they got down the hall from the classroom. "I was starting to believe that time had stopped and we were stuck in Transfiguration class forever!"

"Drama queen," Pansy and Draco said to him, but they both looked ready for dinner too.

"That was quite boring," Harry agreed. "And now I'm hungry." He frowned. Maybe he ought to take a trip home soon? He could feel the other kind of hunger rising and that needed to be dealt with often enough.

"Dinnertime!" Blaise said happily and walked faster towards the Great Hall. Harry shook his head and followed the other three. He appreciated that they showed him around. Hogwarts was quite the maze, after all.

The Great Hall was buzzing with chatter and laughter. Everyone was looking forward to be done with the day. Harry all of a sudden remembered that today was Friday. The days of the week weren't something he usually remembered, since he didn't attend school and didn't work. Now he suddenly had to remember that. Oh well, it shouldn't be that difficult.

They sat down at the Slytherin Table and helped themselves to the food.

"I love it when school starts late in the week," Blaise said happily. "A soft start to the school year is always good." Pansy nodded her agreement, while Draco was too busy discussing Transfiguration theory with a boy from seventh year that Harry didn't know.

The most interesting happening during dinner was when Remus walked down to Harry and collected his winnings. Harry sighed, but handed Remus his two galleons. Everyone followed the madly grinning professor with their eyes when he walked out. Harry shook his head, and muttered "Never again" under his breath. Some of the Slytherins nearby, primarily those who had heard what the professor said to Harry during lunch, sniggered at Harry's loss.

The Slytherin Common Room was alive with chatter. Not yelling or loud noises, but a quiet and calm atmosphere. Harry enjoyed it immensely. His home rarely got quiet. He blamed Sirius for that.

**oOo**

It was night-time, and everyone was sleeping. Harry was sneaking out of his dorm to do a bit of exploring. He wanted to learn how to navigate the castle, and a good time to do that would be when everyone was sleeping and the hallways were empty. This way, no one would see him get lost, because that was bound to happen a time or two.

Exploring the castle took the entire night. But when he was done he felt that he knew the school pretty well. He almost ran into Filch once, and he did meet a few ghosts, but they ignored him. Ghost weren't the best of friends with Harry's kind. Jealousy was suspected.

There was this one cat that kept following him for a while, but he got rid of it. He managed to lose it on the stairs when said staircase moved. Harry nearly fell off, but it was worth it. Normally he liked cats, but that one had been annoying. Following him and staring in that accusing way, like it knew that Harry wasn't supposed to be there. It was unnerving.

When he got into bed in the morning, he was looking forward to sleeping. It was nearly dawn, and he planned to sleep for a long time next morning.

**oOo**

_There! *is proud* The chapter is finished! Now you can stop __being mad at me!_

_I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I will try to be faster this time, I promise! __It might happen that my computer becomes difficult again, but hopefully it won't. And now I have the story on a memory-stick, so I can continue anyway *grins*_

_Hope you enjoyed!_


	5. Chapter 4 Where Harry Goes Home

_*looks around cautiously and whisper* I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to study for my exam. *shifty eyes* But my teachers won't be able to find out! *grins happily*_

_**On a different note**__: My poor computer was very sick *teary eyes* Will everyone join me in a minute of silence to remember the dearly beloved Bertil Ephraim Norbert II? *spends a moment in silence for the departed computer* Then we get to welcome Count Chocula Sucklesworth III to life! He gets to be my friend and ally in this work of mine, but Bertil will forever be in my heart *wipes away a tear*_

_**Input from her Beta: **__I have tried my best to get her butt moving to get on with this chapter. I think I have found a way now though, to get her motivated to write more. So I promise to nag her some more to shorten the time you have to wait for the next chapter. I can be quite persuasive and nagging if I want to be._

_**Comment to the Beta:**__ Yes. Yes, you can be quite persuasive and nagging, but most of all: You know where I live. That scares me..._

_**Disclaimer**__: *puffs out chest* Yes, I own it! *shifty eyes* It's all mine! *angry voices is heard from the other side of the door* *hurried* Okay, okay! It' all property of J.K. Rowling! *sighs in relief when the knocking stops*_

**oOo**

**Chapter 4 – Where Harry Goes Home**

Harry wanted to kill Blaise.

When Harry woke that day, it was not late enough by far. He wanted and needed more sleep. He tugged the covers over his head and pretended he didn't hear Blaise's obnoxious behaviour.

"Wakey wakey!" Blaise yelled loudly from the side. Harry heard an angry "oomph" sound coming from Draco's bed and guessed Blaise had actually jumped Draco to wake him up. _Oooh, try that to me, Blaise, I dare you!_ Harry shut his eyes and held his covers closer over his head. He never liked morning people, and Blaise was certainly a morning person.

"Blaise!" Draco's voice yelled angrily. "Give me back my pillow!" Then Blaise's mad cackling rang out in the dorm. Harry grunted and started counting slowly up to hundred in his head.

"Go wake Harry instead," Draco suggested after a brief scuffle, probably about the pillow. Harry hoped to Merlin that Blaise wouldn't take him up on that.

Apparently, Merlin wasn't listening today. Harry heard the hangings on his bed being opened. Next a hand grabbed his covers and tried to remove them, but Harry was strong enough to keep them there, even though his grip was slack from sleep.

"Zabini," he growled with a sleepy undertone and poked his head out from the covers. "Let go of the covers and go away." He gave his best glare, which was quite good. Blaise looked disgustingly cheerful and Harry dearly wanted to wipe the grin of his face. He narrowed his eyes. He really, really wanted to bare his fangs at him, but that would be most unwise. Growling would suffice, he thought, and did just that.

Blaise's grin loosened and he looked a bit wary.

"Not a morning person, Harry?" Blaise said. "Well, we already guessed that, but I didn't think it was this bad. It's lunchtime. Dumbledore wants all the students to be there at Saturday lunch. I think it's to stop us from staying up too late on Friday, since we can't sleep all Saturday." Harry continued to glare. He noticed Draco preening in front of a mirror, but no one else was present.

"I don't want to get up," he growled and yanked the covers back. He tugged them over his head and curled up into a ball.

"But you have to, Harry," Draco said, sounding very unimpressed with Harry's behaviour. "Dumbledore is very adamant about this." Harry poked a hand out from his cocoon and showed the two others the finger. Blaise snorted.

"I give you to the count of three, Harry, and then I'm bringing out my wand," Blaise said in that horribly cheerful voice of his. Harry growled and crawled out of bed. He gave his best glare at Blaise and stalked to the end of his bed where his trunk was situated. He dug around a bit, got out some clothes and got dressed. He put on the school robe they were required to wear at every meal. Then he got out a small bag that clinked when it moved, and picked up a small potion vial which he drank quickly.

"Ready," he said shortly and ignored the questioning looks from Draco and Blaise. Blaise grinned and led the way to the Great Hall. They saw several tired faces in the hallway. Most of the teenagers wanted to sleep longer.

The closer Harry got to the Great Hall, the crankier he got. When they walked through the doors and headed towards the Slytherin Table, Harry was ready to bury under the covers of his bed and stay there the rest of the day. They sat down at the table and Harry immediately started looking for the coffee. A big pot of the black gold was standing right in front of him. He grabbed a cup and the pot and got ready to wake up.

Four cups of coffee and many fearful glances later, he was still cranky and tired. He glared at the irritating second year that was talking loudly to his friends a few seats down, and downed cup number five.

**oOo**

Harry was sitting on his bed. Lunch was an hour ago, and now he was awake. He sighed. It seemed like the entire world was against him sleeping in. It wasn't like he really needed to sleep much, a few hours every week was sufficient, but it was in his nature to wish to sleep through the daylight. Especially dawn.

He decided he needed to go home for that trip. He was going to do it when everyone in the school was sleeping, but he might as well go now. Some people would probably notice his absence at dinner, but if he said he would be exploring the school? Oh yes, that would work well. He made sure that he had what he needed and that his clothes were okay. He was wearing tight jeans and a green button-up shirt. On his feet were the dragon-hide boots he practically lived in and he had a silver necklace with a snake on it around his neck. When he had deemed it okay, he rooted through his trunk for his leather jacket, which he then put on.

He found his year mates in the Common Room where they were having a chess tournament. Harry had excused himself, since he didn't have the patience for chess. His father had tried to teach him, but they had discovered after two ruined chess sets that Harry just couldn't sit still long enough. He knew the game and was decent at it, but if one round lasted longer than one hour, Harry would end up throwing the chess board on his opponent.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him when he came closer. All the other Slytherins were wearing robes, which Harry weren't really planning to do. He wore them in class and during meals because it was a rule, but he preferred simple Muggle clothes really. And the leather jacket was a favourite of his. He had nicked it off Sirius three years ago and he weren't planning on returning it anytime soon.

"I will be exploring the grounds for a bit," he said to Draco and Blaise. He noticed Theo was discretely listening to what he was saying. "I want to get to know the castle and the grounds, and since I'm awake, I might as well do it now."

"We could come with you and show you around," Pansy said and started getting up from the chair she was sitting in.

"No thank you," Harry answered. "I plan to get lost." He grinned. "This way I will have to remember where I walk." Blaise snorted.

"Yeah, it's an efficient way to get to know the school," he said.

"Good luck," Draco added with a grin of his own.

"Thank you!" Harry said happily. They were surprisingly easy to lie to; he really had thought it would be more challenging. But then again, Harry was a very adapt liar.

He walked out of the castle and was met with blinding sun. He hissed as it hurt his sensitive eyes. He hid in the shadows and searched through his pocket for his sunglasses. A sigh of relief escaped him when he put them on. Harry thought the weather was disgusting and could hardly wait to get inside. He hid behind Greenhouse one and touched his pendant.

"_Home_," he hissed.

**oOo**

Harry appeared in his bedroom at the apartment he and his guardian lived in most of the time. It was situated over the night club that his father owned. It was a club that catered to every species, and because of that there were very few humans frequenting the place. The only humans there had at some point been invited by one of the regular customers, and were thus known to the werewolf bouncer. There were no Muggles, for safety reasons.

He looked around to check that nothing had been touched before drawing his wand and checking the doorknob for spells. Sirius spent a lot of time in this apartment, and got bored easily, so Harry had learned early to check his belongings for spells. After he had removed the colour-changing charm on the doorknob, he opened the door and walked out into the living room.

The place was tidy, which meant that Spiffy had been busy. He looked around nervously. She was probably still angry with him. Luckily, she hadn't retaliated by doing something funny to his door. He quickly checked his hands just to be sure, but he hadn't mysteriously changed colour or something. House elf magic couldn't be detected, so if Spiffy had decided to take revenge, she would have succeeded.

The living room was empty. Harry knew that his guardian would probably be sleeping at this time. However, Sirius was probably bunking in the guest room especially for him and Remus. Sirius got bored easily, and he just couldn't stay in number 12 Grimmaulds Place alone. _Poor Father_, Harry thought. Harry knew how annoyed his guardian could get at Sirius. Those two fought like no-one's business.

Harry hadn't come home just to sit here alone and be bored though, so he walked down the hall towards the guest bedroom. He hoped to Merlin that Remus wasn't sneaking home from Hogwarts too and quietly walked into the room.

Apparently, Merlin was listening now, as Sirius was alone. Harry grinned slightly evilly and conjured a big bucket of cold water. He made it hover over his godfather's bed, and then quickly tipped it over with a jab of his wand. The resulting scream hurt his ears, but was _so_ worth it. He ran from the room and into the kitchen to hide. Spiffy had declared the kitchen war-free zone when Harry was nine, and it had remained that way. The few times that rule had been broken the consequences had been dire, and the reason why Harry feared the little House Elf so much.

Sirius came running into the kitchen only moments after. He was sopping wet and looked a bit miffed.

"Harry James Potter!" he yelled and waved his wand angrily.

Okay, he was more than a bit miffed. He was pissed off.

"No hexing in the kitchen, uncle Padfoot!" Harry said back with a grin. "You remember what Spiffy did to you the last time?" Sirius paled dramatically, and Harry grinned wider. He hadn't gotten any punishment from Spiffy the last time, it had only been Sirius. Harry wasn't sure what exactly Spiffy had done, but Sirius had avoided the little creature like the plague for months afterwards. And a small reminder was enough to make him leave the kitchen and not come back for hours, which was a feat in itself.

Sirius grumpily glared at Harry, before he dried himself with his wand and sat down at the table.

"Since you so rudely woke me, you'll make coffee," it wasn't a question. Sirius had already put his head on the table and mumbled about annoying teenagers. Harry grinned at his godfather and put the kettle on to make coffee for them.

A few moments later he put a steaming cup of coffee in front of Sirius, who had fallen asleep. Harry rapped his knuckles hard against the table next to Sirius's head. Sirius jumped high with an exclamation. Harry sniggered and pushed the coffee closer to the man.

Sirius quickly took a sip, and grimaced.

"How can you even drink this?" he asked and waved the cup around.

"Coffee is what keeps me going in the morning," Harry said. "And I know for a fact that you too are addicted to coffee."

"But this stuff isn't coffee!" Sirius wailed. "It's like oil slug!" Harry feigned offended.

"I like my coffee strong!" he defended. Sirius grimaced and shook his head, before taking another sip and shuddering.

Harry grinned and sat down on the opposite side of the table. It wasn't necessary to tempt Fate more than he already had this Saturday morning.

"I don't think I've ever seen you up and about this early in the morning, Harry," Sirius enquired when he had drunk his first cup. Harry scowled at the table.

"Apparently, Dumbledore wants every student to be there at lunch on Saturdays," he grumbled. "Some nonsense about not staying up all Friday night or sleeping all Saturday." Sirius sniggered.

"Oh, I had forgotten about that!" he said gleefully. "Annoying isn't it?" he asked. Harry glared at him.

"I was ready to bite Blaise this morning," he admitted. "But I decided that it wouldn't be a good way to spring the news at them." He grinned toothily, showing off his shiny fangs on purpose. Sirius chuckled.

"No, I suppose that would be a less than wise way to tell them," he grinned. "So, you're making friends with the Slytherins?" Sirius was, and would always be, a Gryffindor and as such he saw it as his duty to be anti-Slytherin.

Harry shrugged.

"I _am_ a Slytherin, Sirius," he said and poked his godfather in the side. Sirius squirmed out of the way. "I talk to some of them, and they're okay. I think I could become friends with them." Sirius scowled playfully at Harry.

"Do they have any names, these imaginary friends of yours?" Sirius was smirking and trying to rile Harry up. _He must have been very bored here on his own_, Harry mused.

"Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson," Harry said blandly, and waited for the reaction he knew would be coming.

"_Malfoy_?" Sirius exclaimed. "The spawn of Lucius Malfoy and my despicable cousin? What were you thinking, Harry? They're no good!" Sirius was waiving his hands, his eyes were wide and he generally behaved like a child throwing a tantrum. Harry grinned at him, which he knew wouldn't make the situation better, but he couldn't resist.

"Sirius, take a look at your family," he said calmly. "They're not exactly all puppies and rainbows either, are they? And yet you turned out decent enough." Sirius scowled, mostly since he couldn't contradict what Harry was saying. The adult in the room pouted, crossed his arms and slumped in his seat.

"But they're the Malfoys, Harry," he whined. Harry rolled his eyes, and didn't dignify that comment with a response.

A door opened in the hallway, and Harry grinned widely. Padded footsteps approached the door before his father was there with an annoyed look on his face and his normally quite tidy black hair was messy in a way that almost rivalled Harry's.

"Do you really have to be so loud, Raven?" he asked and walked to the fridge. He grumbled about the smell of coffee before he got out a bottle from the fridge, poured himself a cup of the red liquid and put the cup in the microwave.

"What, you're not making me a cup?" Harry asked, earning himself a snort and a glare from his father.

"Do you really have to be so grumpy, Crispin?" Sirius asked cheekily. Sirius got a dirty look for his efforts. The microwave plinged to signal the end of the timer, and Crispin brought out his mug. He took a sip and plopped down on a seat. He gave the two grinning people at the table a glare.

"So, what brings you here in daytime, Raven?" he asked, while nursing his cup.

"It's because Dumbledore is a sadist who enjoys torturing his students," Harry said matter-of-factly. Sirius sniggered, and Harry hit his arm. He ignored the outburst that followed to properly answer his father. "He has this rule that all students have to wake up to lunch at Saturdays. Since I was already awake, I decided I might as well go home. I told the ones who would wonder where I went that I was going to be exploring the castle." Crispin nodded in agreement.

"Hogwarts certainly is big enough for you to be gone until later tonight," he said. "Unless it has shrunk since I last saw it." Sirius stopped nursing his arm to snigger.

"I don't think it has," Harry grinned.

"It's not actually early though," Crispin said. "You don't really need sleep and as long as you get over dawn, you're awake enough. So what are you complaining about?"

"I want to sleep more!" he whined. "It's noon! I'm usually not awake at this hour of the day. Except now I have to get up at ungodly hours to go to class." He added a pout, just because. There was no sympathy to get from the two other though.

"I think your nocturnal nature has rubbed off on me," Sirius said randomly. Crispin and Harry blinked at him. "I used to get up very early, you know, before I met you." Crispin snorted.

"Somehow I have difficulties believing that," he said. "You sleep like the dead, Sirius." Now it was Sirius's turn to blink.

"That was an unusually bad pun, Crispin," he said. "If someone in this household sleep like the dead, it would be _you_, Mr. Dead Guy." Harry grinned and watched the argument unfold. He couldn't imagine how much they argued when they were alone. If he didn't know any better, he would have said it was sexual tension.

He told them to get a room once, and he was never _ever_ going to say something like that again. The revenge... The thought of it could still get Harry to shudder. It was the first time he saw them agree so totally. And then there was Remus. Werewolves got scarily possessive when they thought someone was trying to steal their mates. Harry and Crispin had to basically throw them out after they had locked themselves up in their room. Sensitive hearing was a Very Bad Thing when someone forgot the silencing charm.

"When's Vivienne coming to open up?" Harry asked to get his mind of the track it was moving. He really needed to get the mental sounds out of his head.

"Around 7 PM," Crispin answered and yawned widely. "Meaning we're awake way too early."

"So, what shall we do in the meantime?" Sirius asked idly. _By Merlin, he's bored already!_ Harry thought with a sigh.

**oOo**

_So there it is! The long awaited chapter 4! Well, at least I like to think you guys were waiting in suspense *grins*_

_And thank you to my Beta for the help here! Both corrections and brain-storming sessions *grins*_


	6. Chapter 5 Where Harry is Bored

_*empty__ room*_

_*author peeks out from behind the TV* I am so very sorry! Not a single update in the entire summer holiday! And not for months after! *is horrified at her laziness* But to my defense: I had work! And I was helping at home! And then school began and I had a lot to deal with concerning that. And then family shit happend, and is still happening and it's making me kinda down. And then my unofficial beta was being slow (That is the first time I actually get to say that she is slow at something *is basking in the moment*) And…Noo, that was it._

_**Disclaimer**__: Had I owned Harry Potter it would be very different. Very different! _

_**Random announcement: **__Count Chocula Sucklesworth III has been very helpful and lovely. Just thought you'd want to know. I do miss Bertil Ephraim Norbert II though...*sad face*_

_**Random announcement, the **__**second:**__ There will be some flashbacks in here. They will be marked with italics. _

_

* * *

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**Chapter 5 –**** Where Harry is Bored  
**

Harry was bored. His father had gone to do some business of some kind, and Harry had been stuck with Sirius. Of course, Sirius having been a Marauder meant he usually was loads of fun, but today Sirius had wanted to play board games. Sirius had a lot of Muggle board games, and he became like a child every time he played. Harry suspected that Crispin had a sixth sense for when Sirius was in one of his moods. He was sure to be gone whenever that happened.

After playing several different Muggle board games for the next hours, Sirius had had to leave. Harry had sent him on his merry way, glad to be done with all the games and childishness, but now he was bored.

The TV didn't have anything interesting to offer and the bookshelves didn't have anything new. It took him 5 minutes to conclude this. What to do, what to do? He looked around. The room was very tidy, probably because now Tiffy only had Sirius to clean up after. Crispin could get nearly obsessive about the tidiness of his room, so Harry and Sirius were the only messy ones. and when Harry wasn't there, Tiffy wouldn't need to work hard to hold it tidy.

Harry got into a more comfortably position on the dark brown leather couch and stared at the ceiling. Unfortunately for Harry, ceilings also happen to be one of the most boring things in the world, so staring at it didn't keep him entertained for long. He looked around the room again. It wasn't very big since originally it was intended for Crispin only, but then Harry came along and he came with godfathers. And voilà, they got themselves quite the crowded apartment. The living room-area opened up to the kitchen, separated only by a kitchen counter.

The off-white walls og the living room had several pictures and paintings on them, some were photographs of the four people who lived there, others were of Crispin and his friends and there was a few of Harry and his friends too. On the dresser by the door leading down to the club, stood a picture of Crispin, Harry and everyone from the club. All in all, it wasn't a whole lot of available wall space. While Harry and Sirius could be more prone to slapping up the pictures with a sticking charm in the first place they saw, Remus and Crispin were more classic in their decorating. Especially Crispin. As a result, the pictures and other decorative items were tastefully placed around the room.

The doors had posters and pictures on them too. This had been a fight in itself. Crispin didn't want _posters _in his living room. Harry had won him over though, with a very good use of his puppy-dog eyes. Harry's door had a big picture of a cobra poised to strike. He had animated the snake so it hissed insults at Sirius every time he passed. It was a constant source of amusement for Harry and Crispin. Crispin's door had a more classic-looking painting, depicting Crispin and his father and brother. The painting was charmed to move and talk, but it only spoke in parseltounge.

Sirius had decorated his and Remus' door with a big picture of Remus petting Padfoot. Remus thought it was cute. Crispin snorted every time it was mentioned, and Harry drew drool hanging from Padfoot's jaw.

The hardwood floor was becoming quite scuffed from wear and tear. Especially from stray spells and small fights between the inhabitants of the flat. It didn't help that Sirius had a bad habit of running around as a big black dog, and violently refused to get his claws cut. Crispin had threatened to get him neutered, which had resulted in Sirius not coming to visit in two months. Even Crispin started missing him after that.

The club would open in two hours, and Harry had no idea what to do in those two hours. He sighed. He wasn't very good at being alone; it always made him remember what he called the life before. The life before Crispin.

_It was ironic that __the best thing that ever happened to him happened because his relatives abandoned him. Harry remembered that day clearly. Uncle Vernon, who was a very big man with a huge moustache, had grabbed Harry by his arm and dragged him out to the car. He had talked loudly and his face had gotten steadily more purple. Harry didn't know what he did to incur his uncle's wrath, but he seldom knew anyway. His uncle had driven them into central London, where he stopped in front of a building that Harry had thought was very scary. There he had left Harry._

_He had been seven years old. He knew what an orphanage was, his aunt and uncle had taken great joy in telling him in detail how horrible they were. So __when his uncle told him that it was an orphanage, he did what felt natural for him; he ran. _

_He couldn't remember how long he stayed on the streets. He knew it was cold and he didn't eat much. What he did remember was when he was rescued._

_The man had been tall. That was Harry's first thought. But he couldn't remember if he ever saw without things being big blurs__, and that was what the man was now. Then the man had come down to Harry's height and Harry had gotten a clear view of his face._

_Harry was a small child without an extensive vocabulary, and his first thought had been "Pretty." Luckily, he hadn't voiced this out loud since it really wouldn't have been appreciated. Crispin was an attractive man, no doubt about it. His black hair was long, reaching down to his shoulders__. His eyes were an intense brown colour. Harry could remember thinking that this man made brown eyes look good, while Uncle Vernon only made it look scary and ugly. The stranger had an aristocratic face, many would say, and they would be true. Harry had thought he looked kind, and he certainly wasn't used to people looking kind when they looked at him._

"_What are you doing here alone, child?" the man had asked Harry. Harry couldn't remember exactly what he had answered, but he had told the man the truth. The man had frowned at that, and picked him up._

Harry sighed and forced the memories away. He checked the clock on the wall, but it was still hours until the club opened. He got up from the couch, walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He looked at everything in there, but didn't find anything he fancied. Not that the fridge contained a whole lot of food anyway. Sirius was a horrible cook and was known to actually manage to burn water on one occasion. Harry still wondered how he did that. He sat down on a kitchen chair with a glass of orange juice and felt his thoughts wander back to the memories again.

_Next thing Harry could remember, he was looking up at a dark wooden ceiling. He clearly remembered his confusion and awe when he discovered that he could actually see the ceiling. Then the man had been there, and he had been accompanied by the oddest woman __Harry had ever seen._

_Her skin was __brown, like she spent a lot of time in the sun. Her hair was brown, and long. Harry had never seen a woman with that long hair, it reached all the way down her back. Her eyes were the greenest Harry had ever seen. They had the same colour as the leaves on Aunt Petunia's special bushes, the ones with the red flowers. But the most amazing thing about her was the ears. They were long and thin and pointing out of her hair. Harry stared. _

_He couldn't remember much of the conversation that followed. He was dazed and didn't understand why they were being nice to him. No one had ever been nice to him.__ That was when he learned the name of his saviour. Crispin. And the funny looking lady's name had been Vivienne. He hadn't been able to pronounce their names properly, but the woman didn't protest too much when the best he could do was Vivenn. Crispin on the other hand, had looked like he smelled something awful when Harry had called him Cris._

_It was a while after that Harry had learned exactly how close he came to dying that night. The only thing they could do to save his life, had been to halfway turn him into a vampire. _

Harry resisted the urge to hit his head on the tabletop. Enough was enough. He desperately needed something to do. He looked around at the kitchen again. Nothing caught his fancy. He could go to his room and look through the closet for something to wear at the club that night, but his guardians would tease him mercilessly if they caught him doing that. Sirius had the gall to say it was girly. Harry knew for a fact that Sirius used hours to select an outfit for himself if he were going somewhere remotely fancy. Remus had complained several times about this.

He sighed. And then gave up resisting and let his head hit the tabletop heavily.

"I don't think that's a very good idea, little grasshopper," a female voice said from the door.

"No, you certainly should keep a hold on the brain cells you have, young Padawan," an identical voice said wisely.

Harry's head snapped up and he stared at the two girls in the door opening. Then a grin spread over his face, and the bad memories was blown away. The two identical girls in the door had dark brown hair that bordered on red and eyes which were nearly as green as Harry's. They were grinning widely and waving cheerfully at him.

"Sash! Tash!" he exclaimed. He got up and around the table to give his friends and former babysitters a giant hug. They might both look to be his age, but they were full vampires and had been sixteen for a while now. "When did you come here?"

"Just now," Tash said. Harry recognized her because she was the one with the yellow Converse shoes matching striped yellow and black tights to her jeans skirt and black tank top. Sash had green where Tash had yellow and had a black denim skirt. They were funny like that. But the two could very well show up in full Goth-garb, which they occasionally did, just for fun as they said.

"We didn't know you would be here though," Sash said.

"Yeah, you abandoned us to go to some mouldy castle, you twit!" Tash added and poked Harry hard in the chest.

"That was very cruel of you, little apprentice," Sash nodded with a grave face and a threatening finger pointed in Harry's face. "You left us here with only people above 400 hundred years old!" Both girls were now wearing scandalized facial expressions.

"How could you?" Tash said, wounded.

Harry stared at them. Then he grinned.

"It's been awhile now," he said. "So, where in the world has your Sire brought you since I last saw you?"

"Onancock," Sash said gravely.

Harry looked at them blankly.

"It's near Washington D.C.," Tash added, just as gravely as her sister.

"Apparently, it's _the_ place in the world to get crab cakes served by a guitar-playing chef," Sash said matter-of-factly.

"The Mo Family has been doing it for generations," Tash sighed and looked heavenward.

"Our beloved and oh so modern Sire had a date there with a woman in the late 1800's,"

"We ate at _their_ table; he was down memory lane the entire evening,"

"You know how he is," Sash sighed. By now Harry was laughing so hard he had tears running down his cheeks.

"I love Ian," he said though chuckles. "As long as I don't have to travel with him." The twins grinned.

"Didn't you come with us that one time?" Sash asked.

"I'm pretty sure he did," Tash added. "I can't quite remember where though."

"Vevay," Sash said decisively.

"Oh, I remember that!" Harry exclaimed. "I was like, nine or something!" Harry could remember that trip; it had been fun enough as long as they avoided Ian. And he could remember complaining that he didn't get any wine, but he mostly complained because the girls did. Vevay was apparently big on wine.

"So where did you dump the old man?" he asked with a grin. The girls rolled their eyes.

"He's found himself a new girlfriend in town," Sash said.

"So we'll be staying for a while," Tash added with a grin. Harry grinned back.

"Too bad I will be going back to Hogwarts tomorrow then," he said.

"Nooo!" both girls whined.

"Don't leave us here with the old people again, Raven!" Tash said and turned on her puppy-dog eyes.

"They're going to be the death of us!" Sash exclaimed, grabbed Harry's shoulders and shook him violently. When the shaking stopped, Harry sent them a grin.

"One of them already has been the death of you," he helpfully pointed out. The two girls glared at him.

"I hate you," Tash deadpanned.

"I hope you fall down the stairs and hit yourself where it really hurts," Sash added, just as serious-looking as her sister. Harry's grin faltered, and a slightly suspicious look entered his eyes. The sisters could be quite devious when they wanted to. Oh, they wouldn't harm him _permanently_, but they could do plenty short-term damage.

Harry was happy they decided not to maim him, and instead they ended up prattling away about the more interesting places they'd been to since he last saw them. Before they knew it, it was time to get down to the club. It had opened and Harry could hear music playing down there. He had wanted to go down earlier, but the girls had decided they wanted to dress him up. He managed to fight himself mostly out of it. He was still wearing a pair of tighter trousers than he had been.

The club was full. The music was a loud rhythmic beating Harry didn't recognize. He lost the girls shortly after entering; the never stuck together at the club, unless none of them had an agenda. Harry made a beeline for the bar. Lars was behind the counter serving a thirsty customer; Harry thought she may have been a fey of some kind. Lars was Harry's favourite among the bartenders. He was a Dark Elf, and he was a gentle guy. Of course, Lars wasn't actually his real name, but no one could pronounce it, so he had given up and now he only introduced himself as Lars.

"Raven!" Lars smiled when Harry sat down in front of him. "Didn't expect to see you so soon." Harry grinned.

"I can't keep away for long you know," he said. "This place is home! Besides, I was getting thirsty." Lars gave a short laugh.

"I should have known it wasn't the people who drew you back here," he answered while he fixed Harry his drink. "How does Hogwarts react at having one of the undead among them?" Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"They don't know yet," he answered. Lars crowed delightfully and pushed a glass of Harry's special towards him. Harry had no idea what was in it, but he had been drinking the same since he was first allowed to come to the club at night. The only things he knew for sure, was that it wasn't a lot of alcohol in it and it contained blood.

"Oh, I want to see your memories of when they find out!" Lars grinned. "Especially if you make some friends there first!" Harry snorted. He wasn't really looking forward to telling them, but the faces would probably be entertaining. He just hoped they weren't picky about the species they befriended. They were Slytherins though, so it was a fair chance they didn't care as long as he had power, which he did. Being the Boy-Who-Lived wasn't all bad.

Sipping his drink, Harry turned around in his chair and surveyed the crowd. He needed to feed, and he was shallow enough to care about the looks of the people he fed from. He could see a lot of potential "victims" in the club this evening, and that was always a good thing.

It didn't take long before a slim, good-looking blond man came over to him. Harry was lucky like that.

"Hello there," he said with a smile. He was attractive and blond, which was very good. Harry preferred blondes. "Looking for a feeding?" Harry smiled back, his fangs had extended a bit further than their usual length, and the man's eyes darkened when he saw that.

"I am, actually," he answered. "You interested?" he purred. The man grinned and nodded.

"The name's Henry," he said.

"Raven," Harry said, too busy staring at the man's, well Henry's, neck to be a big conversationalist. The man grinned when he noticed.

Harry blinked and focused back on Henry's face.

"I think we should go somewhere else," he grinned. "People might be a bit distracted if we go about our business here." Harry downed his drink, winked to Lars and led Henry towards the backdoor.

"Wait, there are rooms for that purposes in the back?" Henry asked, sounding vaguely amused.

"In a way," Harry grinned back. "I live upstairs. I have my very own room and everything."

"Well, aren't you lucky?" Henry smirked.

* * *

_Now you've all met slutty!Harry. Well, he's not that slutty, but he certainly isn't a one-man kinda guy. Yet. *grins*_

_For those of you who notice, Tash share my name, but she is absolutely not a self-insertion. She and her sister are not becoming main characters. They will show up some more though. _

_And yes, Onancock is a real place... The guitar playing chef named Mo apparently is too. Ah, the wonders of Google!_

_I would appreciate to know what you think, so a review would be lovely!_


	7. AN!

AN!

*winces* Sorry about this, I don't really like to get all happy about new chapters only to see AN's myself, but I felt I had to do this.

I have two possible chapters written now. I will upload one of them, but I'm not sure which. I have a poll on my profile about it, but I feel that I haven't gotten quite the response I need to know what my readers want. The poll is about the Weasley-twins. I am contemplating bringing them back to retake their Seventh year, since they quit so suddenly, and they didn't have Harry to bring them the Tri-Wizard winnings. And their mother is a scary woman who would like her sons to get their NEWTs. So what say you? I would much appreciate it if you could take the time to either review or answer on the poll to tell me what you think

The real chapter will be up in no more than three days.


	8. Chapter 6 Where Questions is Asked

_Here's the real chapter! Yay! *grins* The response I've gotten __on this story is making me giddy! So, chapter 6 is out after the poll and your reviews have been evaluated._

_17 % didn't want the twins to return. 82 % wanted them to come back. __(Yeah, I wonder where the last percentage went too.) But this means that the twins are coming back! So for you guys that wanted them here, enjoy! For you guys that didn't want them to come back, I'm sorry and I hope their entrance is okay anyway._

_**Disclaimer**__: No, I don't think I really own *muses* Do I? No, I don't *sighs sadly*_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 6**** – Where Questions is Asked  
**

Harry sneaked back into the castle in the middle of the night. He walked as silently as he could, and kept in the shadows. He didn't much fancy being caught outside of his dorm at this hour of the day (or night, in this case). Harry had no problem with using his natural abilities to hide in the shadows now that he had fed. He probably wouldn't need to feed again for at least a week.

He opened the door to the Slytherin Common Room silently and was relieved to see no students about. It wasn't that odd really, seeing as it was rather late. About three o'clock according to the clock on the mantel. He walked swiftly across the room and opened the door to his dorm, where he was met by Draco, Blaise, Theo, Pansy and Daphne Greengrass, Pansy's friend. They were sitting on the boys' beds and it looked like they were interrupted in the middle of a heated discussion. What they were discussing at three AM, Harry had no idea, but they stopped talking the moment the door opened.

"Good evening, Harry," Pansy said with a raised eyebrow. "It took you quite a while to explore the castle." Harry closed the door behind him and got on his bed.

"Yeah, it's a big castle," he answered vaguely. These were Slytherins though, and well-versed in the arts of evading truth. Blaise gave Harry an inquisitive look that clearly stated they didn't believe him. Harry tried to ignore their staring when he walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"It's actually a bit difficult to believe that you were walking around the castle for over twelve hours," Draco said loudly so Harry could hear him in the bathroom. "I know the castle is big, but eating wasn't needed on your walk?" He sounded rather sarcastic to Harry's ears.

"I found the kitchen on my way, the House Elves were quite helpful," Harry said brightly around his toothbrush.

"What was that?" Theo asked, and Harry took out the toothbrush before repeating.

"I found the kitchen on my way, the House Elves were quite helpful," he said slowly as if talking to a particulary slow child.

"You found the kitchen on your second day here?" Pansy said disbelievingly.

"Well, I did spend over twelve hours wandering the castle, I was bound to find something interesting, wasn't I?" he asked back with a grin and rinsed before coming back into the room.

They all stared at him with suspicion. He gave them a disarming smile before he closed the curtain of his bed and called out a cheerful "Goodnight!"

The next morning, no one woke Harry. The dorm was silent when Harry got up around one in the afternoon, and he sat on his bed for a while trying to find out if there was anyone else in the room. Satisfied with knowing that he was alone; he got out of bed, changed and took his potions before wandering out of the common room to find the others. Vampires were rather social beings, contrary to popular beliefs, and Harry was determined to make friends with at least the three people he had spent most of his time at Hogwarts with.

They were once again gathered around the fireplace. It seemed to be a common place for them to sit. Blaise nodded in Harry's direction and Pansy and Draco turned to watch him approach.

"Morning," Harry said and fell into a chair next to Draco.

"Afternoon," Draco answered coolly.

"Is it really?" Harry said, feigning surprise. He looked at his watch and exclaimed in an exaggerated Oxford English. "My goodness, is it really that late!" Blaise sniggered.

"Are you done mocking?" Pansy asked. "Blaise informed me that he practically had to force you up from bed yesterday, how come you got up on your own?" Harry gave her an offended look.

"I just like to sleep in on weekends," he said defensively. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"I didn't say it was," Pansy said blithely. "I just pointed out that this is the only time I've seen you get up without help."

"Then I should point out that you have not known me even for three days yet," Harry bantered back in the most snotty voice he could muster. He liked bantering. Crispin was very good at it and always won, and Remus was okay, but Sirius always made it into an argument, which _was_ different, even though Sirius didn't believe him.

* * *

It was at dinner that day that loud whining noises could be heard before the doors suddenly opened with a bang. Everyone in the Great Hall turned to see who arrived. A formidable red-haired woman strode in though the doors. She was holding two identical red-headed boys in their ears, and was dragging them with her quite mercilessly.

"Mum! Come on, mum!" wailed one of them.

"We don't need to come back here!" the other one added.

"We're off age!" they yelled together. Harry suspected that they had been going like that for a while.

"Here they are, Dumbledore," the woman said and tugged on the boys' ears. She ignored their pain filled wails and continued talking to the Headmaster. Dumbledore stood up and talked to the whole room.

"As you might understand, Fred and George Weasley are now returning to Hogwarts to finish their education. They will be taking their Seventh year along with our current Seventh years," he said with that creepy twinkle in his eyes. The boys were looking very sullen. Harry shrugged and turned back to his food. The twins were still arguing with their mother, who ignored them with ease and was talking to the Headmaster. Harry understood they must have failed their N.E.W.T.s or quit or something, but it just wasn't interesting.

After Harry had finished off his dinner, he looked up at his fellow Slytherins to see that the students around him looked quite glum.

"What's wrong?" he asked Blaise, who looked like someone killed his cat (which Harry thought was impossible, because he had had an encounter with the beast on his nightly wander, and that cat was probably something un-killable).

"The Weasley twins are back," he said sullenly. Harry raised an eyebrow to show that he didn't know why that would make them so down.

"They are pranksters," Pansy said. She was sitting next to Blaise, and she looked quite put-out. "And they mostly target us Slytherins." Pansy, Blaise and Draco sighed in unison.

"Why don't you just retaliate?" Harry asked. The three others gave him disbelieving looks.

"It's beneath us," Draco said, like it was obvious. "We do not do pranks." Pranks were beneath them? Oh, he needed to teach them a thing or two about fun.

"Besides, they would just prank us back," Blaise added, grimacing. Harry grinned. A prank war! It was just what this place needed.

* * *

The next few weeks were uneventful for Harry. He had decided to observe the Weasley twins before he did something foolish, like pranking them before he knew exactly what he was up against. Growing up with Marauders as uncles had made him quite prepared for the worse, but a proper Slytherin always planned ahead.

He attended the classes, got to know his fellow students, partnered with Hermione in Potions and snuck home in the weekends. He waited until his fellow dorm-mates was asleep Saturday night before he walked out as silently as he could and snuck back in on Sunday morning as silently as he could. It worked for him, and no one had caught him yet. He knew they would sometime, and he was really not looking forward to it. Lars had started to nag at him to tell them, before they found out on their own. Harry was starting to think it would be a good idea to do so.

Hogwarts turned out to be an interesting place for the vampire. Professor Snape was a very sarcastic teacher, and apparently didn't have much belief in the youth of today. But Harry had already expected that from seeing the man on the few Potions gatherings he had been on. Harry generally wasn't old enough to come to those gatherings and Snape was apparently not a fan of them, so he had only seen the man on three.

McGonagall continued in the same manner as her first lesson. She was fair and very strict. Harry actually thought she was quite scary. They got to see the extent of her fury when Pansy (whose strong site was _not_ Transfiguration, Harry soon realised) accidentally gave Daphne a duck's beak. Daphne was absolutely furious, and Harry resolved never to get on her bad side. McGonagall was even angrier when she sent Daphne off to see the nurse and gave Pansy some very curt orders to write notes on the dangers of human transfiguration. Pansy grumbled, but wrote diligently.

Ancient Runes was probably the most boring one for him. He had, after all, been taught by people who were around when the subject was just called Runes. So, Harry knew quite a lot about runes. Professor Babbling had introduced them to a project they would have all year in the subject. The entire class was parted into groups of three, and since the class had students from all Houses, the groups were too.

The class mostly consisted of Ravenclaws for obvious reasons, but Slytherins came as a close second. Gryffindors apparently didn't enjoy brainy subjects, as there was only Hermione from that particular House taking Ancient Runes. The assignment was a test of sorts to see if they could use their knowledge of runes to make a small ward. Harry thought the project should prove interesting. His group consisted of Draco and Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw. He figured they had a chance to come up with something interesting.

The other teachers and their lessons were okay, in Harry's opinion. He had never gone to school before, having been homeschooled by Crispin, Remus and several other vampires (and Sirius for a short while, before they realised that he wasn't a very adept teacher) so it was a novel experience for him. Living in a dorm posed few issues for Harry, seeing as he was used to living in closed quarters with people. Of course, normally it wouldn't be so many humans, but that part hadn't been a problem yet. Luckily all of his roommates used shaving spells, so he didn't have to worry about shaving accidents in the morning. That would have been quite bad. He didn't think attacking his fellow students would be a good way to say "Hey, by the way, I'm a vampire!"

Harry found it fascinating how different the Slytherins were in their quarters compared to out in the company of the rest of the school. At meal times, in classes and at any other time when they were seen by other students or teachers the Slytherins portrayed this mass of uninterested and arrogant students. Harry had always known of the strategy of assuming a persona. He used it all the time. No one was wary about a person who was as happy-go-lucky as he was.

Except in the mornings.

Students had quickly learned to keep away from him in the mornings. No one even spoke to him before he had had his three cups of coffee. Even the annoying little midget with the camera (Harry had never bothered to learn his name) had learned to keep away. Of course, that might have been because Harry had hit him with a long-lasting itching hex that had lasted for two days before the midget went to the nurse.

Harry had, on the other hand, had an uncomfortably encounter with a Weasley.

_Harry was heading to the Great Hall after Ancient Runes when he almost crashed into a girl with fiery red hair. He had rounded a corner, and found her just standing there leaning against the wall. __She was alone, and had __apparently __been rooting around in her school bag. She had yelped rather high and dropped her bag when she saw who it was._

"_H-Harry Potter," she squeaked with a stutter and a rather unattractive blush that clashed horribly with her hair. Harry raised an eyebrow in response. He thought he could have fun with this. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the girl Blaise said was his biggest fan. She apparently thought she would be Mrs Harry Potter at some point. Harry had decided that he had to take this with good humour and maybe humiliate her a bit, or he would end up running in fright every time he saw her. _

"_H-hello. I'm Ginny Weasley," she eagerly thrust out a hand, obviously intending to shake hands with him. Harry stared at her hand until she dropped it, but apparently that didn't dissuade her. _

"_Hello," he answered__ neutrally._

"_Hello," she said again with a bright grin. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stared at her to see if he could unnerve her. She was getting scarily happy now. "I've heard the stories about you. Are they true? I mean, the obvious one is of course, but the others? Are you really a genius? And of course you have to be insanely powerful! And Hermione talk well about you; she doesn't do that often." She was close to jumping up and down in glee, and the look in her eyes could only be described as fanatic. Harry decided that a tactical retreat would be wise._

"_I have no idea what you're talking about," he said. "I have to go to lunch now. Goodbye." He refused to fuel her infatuation by saying something silly like "it was nice meeting you" or something of the sort. Especially since he didn't particularly mean that it had been nice meeting her. On the contrary, it had been quite awkward._

Blaise had teased him for the rest of the week after that. If it weren't for the fact that Harry was used to teasing from his godfather, he probably would have hexed Blaise the second day.

The young Weasley girl's brother, Ron (whom Blaise and Draco called Weasel for some reason) had been sending them glares every time he was in their vicinity. Harry found it amusing, and slightly disturbing. Blaise assured him it was normal Weasel-behaviour. Harry tried, and gave up on, imagining a weasel glaring like that.

Halloween was getting closer every day now. Harry was looking forward to it. He enjoyed Halloween celebrations, ever since Crispin let him go trick-or-treating when he was a kid. He scared the other children into giving him their candy and charmed the adults into giving him extra.

Crispin called it 'practice'.

Harry called it candy-filled fun.

He didn't even have to dress up! One of the old ladies called him the cutest little vampire she had ever seen, Harry responded by making the cute-kid-pretending-to-look-scary-but-ending-up-looking-cuter look that he had practiced so much. That earned him extra candy.

A Sunday three days before Halloween, Harry was sitting at a table in the common room doing his Charms homework. He liked Flitwick, the man was smart and a good teacher. Draco and Pansy was sitting in the couch on the other side of the table working on a Transfiguration assignment while Blaise was off somewhere doing Merlin knew what. Harry had given up trying to understand what the other boy was doing. Harry had learned that Blaise was one of those people who had many good friends and several projects going at the same time. He was often busy with one thing or another. It had taken a while into the school year before Harry learned this. Apparently it was normal for Blaise to take it easy the first two weeks, before suddenly starting his many projects.

Harry wrote the last sentence of his assignment and put it away. He stretched his back and sighed happily when it popped.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "I'm not sitting still here anymore. Any idea what to do that involves moving?" Draco looked up briefly from his book and raised an eyebrow.

"Problem sitting still, Harry?" he asked, sounding vaguely amused.

"We've been sitting here doing assignments for _hours_!" Harry whined. "I need to _move_!"

"You have an extraordinary whining voice, Harry," Blaise said as he suddenly appeared and dumped himself into the seat next to Harry.

"Where have you been all day, then, Zabini?" Pansy asked imperiously. The girl was apparently their self appointed mother-away-from-home. Harry actually thought it was a bit creepy how she made it her business to know what "her boys" were doing all the time. Fortunately for Harry, that didn't completely include him. Yet.

"Oh, here and there," Blaise answered nonchalantly. "I spent most of the day at the library with Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein. We were doing some research for our Arithmancy project. Then we found an empty classroom to work in."

"Madam Pince threw you out again?" Draco asked while he rolled up his homework. Blaise grinned. Pansy signed her homework and blew on the parchment to dry the ink.

"She loves me really," he said with a decided nod. Pansy snorted, while Draco rolled his eyes. Even Harry knew by now that Blaise kept insisting that the strict librarian wanted to have his babies. "But yeah, she threw us out. Apparently, we aren't allowed to do work that requires talking in the library."

"You were probably turning the pages in your book too noisily," Draco calmly stated.

"There's no such thing as turning the pages in a book _too noisily_," Pansy complained, while packing her equipment away and producing a bottle of silver coloured nail polish.

"In the Hogwarts Library, there is," Draco said. Blaise grimaced briefly at the smell of nail polish that was wafting over to him. Harry was trying to breath with his mouth. There were few things that smelled as bad as nail polish to a vampire. Garlic breath being one of them, hence the superstition about vampires being violently allergic to it.

"We weren't reading too noisily," Blaise said. "We ended up in a discussion about the use of the Sowilo rune in a ward against vampires." Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and decided he did not want to see their project in work.

"But the Sowilo rune is for energy, success, healing, strength and fertility," Draco said, reciting from their homework the last week.

"But it's also the sun," Blaise pointed out. "It's about the sun and the light winning over the dark. It should work in conjunction with some other runes, but we didn't agree completely on this. Therefore starting the discussion that got us thrown out of the library."

Draco looked intrigued by this whole subject.

"So you're thinking to make a ward that would activate and create light that imitates the sun when a vampire crosses it?" he asked and leaned forward. Pansy was idly listening while painting her nails. She didn't look all that interested in their conversation, which wasn't that surprising since she didn't have Ancient Runes. Harry was starting to feel a little apprehensive, and realised he really needed to tell them about his non-human status soon. He wasn't looking forward to that. At all.

"Yes," Blaise nodded. "We're still at the stage here we research deeper meanings of runes that can be of help, but I feel that we can do something interesting." Draco turned to Harry.

"We should get Turpin and think of what to do for our project," he said. Harry stared at the two boys.

"But we have months!" he exclaimed. "That's lot of time!" Draco rolled his eyes to convey his exasperation.

"And it's a big project," he said in a voice one would use to talk to a small child. Harry stuck his tongue out at him, but Draco just raised an eyebrow.

Harry sighed and mentally gave in. He would probably be better off if he didn't argue with the blonde on this. Draco looked very smug for winning the argument before it even became an argument.

"But not today!" Harry said mock-sternly. "We need to have fun once in a while too, you know." Here Harry got an idea about what to do. "We could play Exploding Snap!" Draco and Pansy looked less than impressed, but Blaise shrugged in the universal sign of "Whatever".

Pansy blankly refused, but they managed to bully Draco into playing, and Tracy Davies joined voluntarily. Apparently, she had younger siblings and cousins and thought Slytherin common room to be too quiet on most times. The older students gave them sour looks from where they were huddled in groups either talking amongst themselves or studying. Harry knew that the group of three seventh year boys and one girl sitting in a corner by the entrance where mostly talking about the Death Eaters and the still hiding Dark Lord. It bothered Harry a lot that so young people had joined, but there wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment.

Some of the younger students joined in on their game, and they ended up being a group of mostly first years, who hadn't dared to play such a loud game in the common room until now. Draco dropped out of the game the moment he lost half an eyebrow from a particular vicious explosion and sat back to watch them. Of course, being a Malfoy meant he wasn't raised to be in the background so Draco settled for making small explosions happen. Their fun ended abruptly after several games when one of the firsties, a boy called Joseph Johnson, set fire to his sleeve. Harry got the fire taken care of quickly and then thought the kid how to fix the fabric, Blaise had been too busy laughing and Draco was wearing an incredulous expression. It was well-known amongst people in the Wizarding world that even though the explosions could damage, Exploding Snap cards were supposedly fire-proof.

They all decided to call it a night after that. Or so Harry thought, until he found Pansy coming into their room in her nightgown with her blond hair out of its usual ponytail. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what she was doing in the boys' dorm that late in the evening.

"We are going to have a chat," she said and got comfortable on Harry's bed, grabbed his pillow and putting it in her lap. She had never looked so girly-girl before. Harry thought it was almost frightening how she looked like a girl getting ready for a sleepover.

Blaise hopped onto the foot end of Draco's bed since it was next to Harry's and they waited for the blonde to come out from the bathroom. It still amazed Harry that someone could take so long in the bathroom when getting ready for bed. When Draco was settled, he erected a silencing barrier to stop their conversation from waking Crabbe and Goyle, and Theodore, when he showed up. Harry gave them curious looks, but had a hunch what this was about.

"We noticed something strange when we went to bed last night, Harry," Blaise said in a bland voice. "We decided to be quiet about it to see if you would say something, but you have been very quiet about it too." Harry gave them cautious looks.

"What are you talking about, Blaise?" he asked carefully. Oh, he knew that they knew that he knew (that had been easier in his head), but wanted to them say it.

"You weren't here," Draco said bluntly. "This has happened before." Here Harry smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, yes, that," he said, nodding. Three expectant faces stared at him. He stared back. Pansy eventually sighed and threw his pillow at his face.

"_Where_ were you at the middle of the night?" she asked, exasperated. "And how do you not get caught?" Harry snorted at the last question. He had put the pillow back where it belonged and was thinking about how much he could say.

_

* * *

Yeah, I just did what you thought I did. It's a cliffhanger! And a really mean one too, I'm afraid.__ But look on the bright side! The chapter was longer than my average! And my Christmas holiday is long, and the next chapter will be up before school start again. I promise._


	9. Chapter 7 Where Questions is Answered

_So, here's the chapter with the long awaited Explanation! _

_I know I promised this would be updated before school started again, but Christmas holiday was busier than I'd thought. So I apologize for the wait._

_**Disclaimer: **__I still don't own Harry Potter or his friends and enemies. If I've owned them, things would be very different._

_Enjoy!_

**Chapter 7 – Where Questions is Answered**

Apparently, Harry took too long with thinking about how to say this and what to say, because he suddenly found two pillows hitting him in quick succession. He tossed the pillows back to Draco and Blaise before taking a deep breath.

"I go home," he said, and waited for a reaction. He didn't have to wait for long.

"Wait, what now?" Blaise asked doubtfully. Pansy blinked. Even Draco looked disbelieving in a way that a Malfoy shouldn't.

"Home?" Draco asked incredulously. "And how do you do that?" Pansy blinked and shook her head before giving Harry a suspicious stare. Harry lifted his snake pendant out of his shirt.

"Portkey," he said shortly.

"But why?" Blaise looked like he couldn't wrap his head around why Harry risked getting caught outside at night just to get home. Sneaking away from school property at night was a serious offence. And the Wizarding world wasn't exactly safe at the moment either, with the current Dark Lord running about. Harry lifted his shoulders.

"That's where things get complicated," he said slowly. Blaise and Draco had both leaned back against the bedposts and were staring at Harry with blank faces. Pansy lifted her eyebrows at him.

"Well," she said. "I'm sure we can deal with your dirty little secret." Harry snorted.

"To tell you this, I need to all to make a promise not to tell this to anyone else," he started. "It will come out eventually, but I'd rather it didn't come from the people I see as my friends." The three others nodded, and promised.

"I think it would be best to explain from the beginning," Harry said slowly. "It would seem that this is the time to tell you everything." He took a deep breath.

"When I was seven, my aunt and uncle decided they'd had enough of me," he started. He noticed he had the full attention of his three friends. "My uncle dumped me at the stairs of an orphanage. I was terrified, so I ran away." Pansy tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked at her and could see she was feeling sorry for the kid he was. Harry felt oddly distant when talking about it.

"I don't know how long I lived on the streets," he continued with a frown. "But I remember the day father found me. I was nearly dead, actually." Draco had an intense look in his eyes when watching Harry tell his tale. Blaise, on the other hand, was frowning heavily and opened his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it. Harry was surprised to see Pansy with tears glistening in her eyes. He hadn't thought she would find his story _that_ saddening.

"I must have passed out, because I remember waking up in a bed and feeling better than I had in a long time," Harry didn't exactly feel uncomfortable talking about this to the other three, but it wasn't his idea of fun either. "I nearly died that night. Father told me that I would have died if it weren't for what he did. You see, father isn't exactly human." That got attention like nothing else. Draco was looking very suspicious; Blaise and Pansy were both leaning forward looking very intrigued.

"My father is a vampire," Harry said seriously, regarding the others' reactions closely. Pansy blinked, blinked again and then gaped with her eyes open wide. Harry guessed she got what he was hinting at. Draco had a completely blank face that even Harry couldn't read, and he was _good_ at reading faces. The blankness was more worrying than anything else. Blaise looked quite baffled, which was understandable, considering. There was total silence following his declaration.

"What he did that night was to halfway turn me into a vampire. If he hadn't I would have died," Harry continued. "That's why I go home, as a vampire, even a half one, I need blood regularly."

"You are a vampire?" Pansy asked after a long moment of silence. Harry nodded.

"A proper blood-sucking vampire?" she persisted. Harry rolled his eyes and nodded again.

"I'm sorry, but I need proof," she stated, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest. Blaise nodded in agreement, Draco still looked quite blank. Harry sighed. He should have known they would have started that. Then he showed off his elongated fangs at Pansy, making her emit a squeak and try to get further away.

"Oh come on!" Harry exclaimed after reseating his fangs, hoping to dissuade any fear or apprehension by behaving like he did normally. "Stop behaving like that! I'm not going to bite you, I will not drain you dry and I will not harm you in any way just because I'm a vampire."

"I've never heard of anyone being a half-vampire before," Blaise said finally after staring at Harry for a long while.

"Wait, like Lorcan d'Eath?" Pansy interrupted curiously. Harry nodded, while Blaise and Draco rolled their eyes at the mention of the artist that had the attention of almost every girl over fourteen.

"I'm not sure how he happened, but our situations are similar. It's not done often, since being half-vampire doesn't make me as strong as a pure vampire," Harry said. "And it's difficult. The Sire needs to be quite old and strong to be able to turn someone halfway. The major difference is that I grow older. Vampires don't get older, half-vampires do. I think I would have been quite angry with father if he had turned me all the way. I can't imagine how it would be to look like a seven-year-old for the rest of my days, which will be a long time."

Pansy was accepting it all now that she had learned that Harry was much the same as her favourite singer. That had to count for something. Blaise looked like he would be able to accept this, but he would probably be thinking a lot about what he had heard when he went to bed. Draco still looked blank.

"Draco?" Harry asked hesitantly. "I can't read your mind you know, so would you mind telling me what you're thinking about?" Draco blinked once before focusing on Harry's face.

"It's a lot to take in," he said slowly. "Where you planning on telling us this at all?"

"Yes," Harry answered honestly. "But I wasn't quite sure when I'd be telling you. All the people I've known beforehand have known about me being a vampire. To them, I was Raven Pearce, Childe to Crispin Pearce. And that was all. Hell, most of the people I've been around have all been vampires!"

"You haven't socialised with humans at all?" Blaise asked curiously, his inquisitive nature shining through.

"Well, there's been a few, but mostly those I've met at the BP," he said. "And of course: donors. Which have all been willing, in case you were wondering." Pansy actually grinned at that. Harry found her reaction a bit surreal.

"I wouldn't expect otherwise," Draco sniffed. "Although childish, you have been behaving like a proper Slytherin while you've been here. That doesn't come overnight." Harry grinned properly this time, which made Blaise look at his teeth in slight apprehension.

"How are you dealing with this, Blaise?" Harry asked. He started at being addressed, then his eyes widened slightly.

"I'm dealing," he said slowly. "It's just – I've been warned against people like you." He gave him an apologetic look. "From early childhood I've heard that vampires are bad. My views wont chance just like that." Harry nodded. He couldn't ignore that it hurt him a bit, but he was so relieved that they would eventually be over it. He hadn't actually noticed how attached he was getting to the three Slytherins, and it was scaring him a bit.

"Of course not," he eventually said, and Blaise snapped his eyes at his, surprise at his acceptance evident. "I imagine you are feeling quite torn now. But that was also the reason why I haven't said anything earlier. I wanted people to get to know me before they learned what I am. This way, those who have heard only bad about vampires will think a bit more over it." Blaise nodded his agreement.

"I will think more about it," he said. "Will you give me some time to think?"

"Of course," Harry answered. He had hoped that they would accept him, but he should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Witches and wizards were ridiculously afraid of things that were stronger than them. They underestimated the Muggles, and hated vampires, werewolves and other beings.

"I will be going to bed, I think," Pansy interrupted. "It's late, and I have a lot to think about. Goodnight." She got up and left the room, waving to the boys over her shoulder when they called out goodnights to her.

Suddenly, Draco frowned.

"What's BP?" he asked curiously. Harry grinned again.

"It's the club father runs. The real name is Blood Play, but we usually shorten it down to BP," he explained quickly. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Blood Play?" he asked dubiously. "Obvious much?" Harry grinned.

"We're an obvious bunch," he answered. "And it's mostly magical beings and a few witches and wizards in the know."

"In the know?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry shrugged.

"Yeah, you know, aware that we're not monsters out to kill you all," he said cheerily. "And known to the bouncer. We're selective." Draco looked intrigued at that.

"How selective?" he asked.

"To gain access to BP you have to be invited by someone the bouncer know and trust," he answered easily. "And that's only people who have been approved by father or Vivienne. Vivienne is really good at reading people, so we don't have many troublemakers. And when we do, Varg, the bouncer, takes care of them."

"And when you say 'takes care of them', you mean...?" Blaise let the question hang in the air.

"He throws them out and tells them not to come back," Harry grinned. "What did you think he did?" Blaise looked vaguely sheepish at that.

"But now I think it's time for you humans to go to sleep, or at least go to bed," Harry said. "You have a lot to think about and tomorrow is a regular Monday, after all." Draco cast a look at his wristwatch, and promptly pushed Blaise out of his bed. Blaise, who had apparently been deep in thought, wasn't prepared and fell to the floor with flailing limbs. Harry laughed loudly while Blaise picked himself up from the floor with a glare in Draco's direction. Draco regarded Blaise with a cool stare before he said a quiet goodnight and shut the curtains of his bed. The disgruntled teen left standing on the floor snorted, said goodnight to Harry and left to his own bed. Harry snickered slightly when he shut his curtains.

He was left thinking over the conversation and how well it had gone. He had never believed they would take it so well. Blaise was doubtful, but it looked like he would get used to the idea. He had listened to his explanation, and he was a smart wizard, he would realize that Harry wasn't a danger to him. Draco looked okay with the whole thing too, and that had been a relief. Pansy had reacted surprisingly well, but he should have known that since she was a big fan of d'Eath. "Necks to You" had been playing in the girls' dorm for a week now. This time it suited Harry just fine. He enjoyed the company of the three Slytherins too much for them to freak out over his species, and if the musician could help, Harry wouldn't complain.

* * *

When Harry woke next day, he hadn't been awoken by Blaise, which was a first for a school day. It was Draco who was carefully poking Harry in the shoulder and telling him in a calm and no-nonsense voice that he had to get up.

Harry cracked an eye open and gave Draco an unimpressed stare. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Breakfast is over, and Potions starts in ten minutes," he said calmly. "Do you really want to try Professor Snape's patience?" Harry mumbled something not even he could decipher and got out from under the covers. He sleepily put on clothes and got out his potions which he swallowed quickly. His robe was undone and shirt un-tucked. He didn't even bother with the tie.

Blaise was standing by the door, watching them with an amused and somewhat exasperated face.

"Why are you standing all the way over there?" Harry grumbled. "You're usually the one who nag."

"You _snarled_ at me," Blaise deadpanned and opened the door for them to leave. "With impressive teeth and everything." Harry blinked. Had he really? Oh wait, yeah, he had. Draco looked distinctively amused when he led the way through the common room.

"Sorry," he said, somewhat sheepishly. "Coffee?" He gave the other boys a pleading look. Draco sighed and pulled a thermos out of his pocket.

"Professor Lupin brought this to us when he didn't see you at the table," he said as a way of explanation. Harry snagged the thermos and starting working on getting it emptied. When they reached the classroom five minutes later, the container was almost empty, and Harry was a tad more awake.

They silently took their seats in the classroom only moments before the class was about to start. Hermione gave Harry a very curious look when she spotted the thermos, but she was intelligent enough not to ask. She could probably figure out that Harry had overslept and she already knew that he was a caffeine-addict. After that, one only needed to put two and two together.

After the instructions was put in the board, the Professor stopped in front of their desk.

"Mr Potter, why did you feel the need to bring drink to my classroom?" he asked silkily. Harry blinked slowly up at him.

"I apologize, Professor, but I slept through breakfast today," he answered. "This is my coffee. I can't really function without it. I will put it away when we start working with the ingredients." Professor Snape stared at him for a moment.

"See that you do, Mr Potter, and try not to oversleep again," he said, warning clear in his voice before he walked over to berate some Gryffindors who were already making a mess. Harry drank the last of his coffee and turned to start working on his potion. Hermione had made both their cauldrons ready and was waiting for him. He nodded his thanks before they both started working.

* * *

When lunch rolled around, Harry was awake again and his normal, happy self. He was eating the small portion that was his regular lunch, while discussing their Potions homework with Draco. Blaise was off to the other end of the table where he was sitting next to three first years he had decided to tutor. The first years had given up protesting. Pansy was giggling with Daphne over a magazine. Harry had decided he didn't want to know.

He sensed Remus before he heard him.

"Didn't even get up for breakfast today, Harry?" his honorary uncle said teasingly. "What would Crispin say to that?" Harry turned to face the grinning werewolf.

"He would totally approve," he said decidedly. Remus laughed and ruffled Harry's hair before he walked on. Harry scowled after his Defence Professor and tried to manage his hair after the abuse. Draco was watching the proceedings with obvious amusement, as were several of the other Slytherins sitting near them.

They ate the rest of their lunch in relative silence and continued to Transfiguration.

They were learning how to do small human transfigurations now, and Harry thought it was very interesting. He had tried to get Padfoot and Moony to teach him the Animagus transformation, but he hadn't managed to sit still long enough for the meditation required. They had given up temporarily and would continue during summer holiday.

Right now, they were practicing transfiguring hair into feathers. Hair was easy to fix or re-grow if something went wrong; therefore it was the first they tried. Harry was working with a Ravenclaw named Michael Corner. He was an annoying little twat. He had already badgered Harry about his knowledge of magic and was always trying to prove himself better than the Boy Who Lived. It was getting old very fast and Harry thought that if the other boy kept this up for the duration of the school year, he might be forced to curse him.

When Transfiguration was over and they were eating dinner, Michael Corner was at the Infirmary trying to fix his bright purple feathered head. McGonagall had given Harry a stern look when she couldn't undo it, but even the strict teacher had gotten tired of the Ravenclaw's behaviour. Therefore, the boy had been sent to Madam Pomfrey who might be able to do something about it.

Blaise was still sniggering about it.

Dinner was generally a quiet affair at the Slytherin table, this Monday being no exception. When Blaise and Draco were finished eating, they sent Harry expectant looks. Harry raised his eyebrows, but got that they wanted to go somewhere to talk. Pansy saw the exchange and excused herself from the conversation she was having with Daphne to follow them.

They ended up borrowing one of the unused rooms in the dungeon that had once been a Potions lab. It was clean, since the House Elves would never let it get dusty, but it was obvious that it wasn't in use. There was no proper lab equipment, the desks was stacked on top of each other by the wall and the ingredients cupboard was empty. But one desk and five chairs stood on the floor still. Obviously, the room had _some_ use, although not the one it was designed for.

They all sat on the chairs and Harry waited patiently for the others to start asking.

"You only need blood once a week?" Blaise started with. Harry nodded.

"Half-vampires don't need as much blood as full vampires do," he said. "And we need food, albeit not much."

"Isn't there supposed to be animosity between vampires and werewolves?" Pansy asked, leaning slightly forward and placing her elbows on the desk. Harry laughed.

"No, that's just a rumour that the humans came up with for some reasons," he grinned. He happily noticed that none of them winced or gave other expressions of being uncomfortable with his larger-and-sharper-than-normal eye teeth. "We just haven't bothered to correct it. For most of us, it's good fun. The bouncer at BP I mentioned, Varg, he's a werewolf, and Remus is, obviously. None of us have a problem with each other." He noticed that his audience was really paying attention now. Blaise was probably only moments away from taking out parchment and quill to take notes.

"Have you met Lorcan?" Pansy asked eagerly, her eyes taking on a slightly scary shine. Harry leaned away from her.

"No," he said honestly. "We play his music sometimes in the BP, mostly to keep up the image of a vampire club, but I've never met the guy." Pansy looked vaguely disappointed at that.

"Are you planning on letting the rest of the school know about your partly change of species?" Draco asked. Harry shrugged.

"I don't care one way or another," he said. "I'm not planning on telling them, but if it comes out I will go with it. Unless, of course, people start chasing me with pitchforks or garlic."

"Hey, speaking of garlic, how is it not a problem that there's garlic in the dinner sometimes?" Blaise asked curiously.

"I'm going to let you in a secret," Harry stated with a gleeful grin. "Vampires aren't really allergic to garlic. It just smells _really _bad." The three humans in the room looked properly gobsmacked.

"No way!" Blaise exclaimed. "All the books say it, and all our Defence teachers have said it! How can it not be true?" Harry shrugged.

"Garlic breath smells bad, right?" Harry asked, and they nodded.

"Imagine trying to get close enough to someone's neck to bite them, while smelling garlic breath; times ten," he continued with a grimace. "It's awful, and we generally just go find someone else." Pansy sniggered, while Blaise looked vaguely green. Draco looked highly amused at the whole conversation.

_There's the chapter! Next time, the twins will do something unforgivable.  
_


	10. Chapter 8  Where the Twins do Something

_You didn't see this coming did you? This chapter was amazingly easy to write, so therefore it arrives __quite fast._

_I'm going to try to update every__ other Monday from now on. The plot is slowly thickening in my head, so it's easier to write._

_Besides, I dearly need something to cheer me up, and writing does that, luckily._

_**Disclaimer:**__ *sighs* I still don't own..._

_

* * *

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**Chapter 8 –**** Where the Twins Do Something Unforgivable**

It was Tuesday morning. The Slytherins were, as every day now, staying clear of Harry Potter who had just sat down and reached for the coffee. Everyone was waiting in suspense for the abnormally morning-hating Slytherin to drink his coffee and become alive again. Today he was in a particularly bad mood after walking into a door in his sleep-induced stupor.

Then, something unusual happened. Harry had just poured his first cup of coffee, when he suddenly stopped, sniffed at the coffee and stared. He sat there staring at the cup in his hands for three minutes (Blaise timed him) before he slowly put the cup back down.

A tick developed in his eye.

The Slytherins edged away.

"Something wrong with the coffee?" Pansy asked, strangely timid.

Harry twitched, and slowly raised his eyes to look at her. Pansy nearly recoiled at the empty eyes. Then, agonizingly slowly, Harry nodded, like he couldn't believe it was true. He stared at the coffee again, and twitched some more. Draco moved his eyes from the scene that was slowly scaring every Slytherin present and proceeded to peruse the Gryffindor table. In the middle of the red and gold table sat two identical twins. They were whispering furiously to themselves and throwing not-so-subtle glances at the green and silver table.

"Harry, look at the twins," he said cautiously, like one would talk to a wild animal. Harry turned around slowly to look at the red-heads.

His eye twitched again.

Then he did something totally unheard of: He picked up his cup of coffee and walked slowly, but purposely towards the Gryffindor table. Several of them lifted their heads when he came closer; the annoying midget even quickly snapped a picture. Harry was too concentrated on his goal to notice.

The twins didn't notice that Harry sat down on the other side of the table from them. The rest of the Hall was paying attention now, as a Slytherin had actually sat down with the Gryffindors. It was unheard of. Even the teachers were watching. Remus looked vaguely worried, while Dumbledore's twinkle nearly got to the brightness of an average star.

The twins did, however, notice that a cup of coffee was stuck underneath their noses. They blinked in surprise before looking up at the student sitting in front of them. Then they blinked again, and their eyes did the customary route to his forehead before they settled on his face again. They looked slightly unnerved at the emptiness in his eyes.

"Why is there a Transfiguring Potion in my coffee?" Harry asked in a deceptively calm voice. The twins' jaws fell down. Harry continued to stare. The twins stared back.

"How did you know?" the one on the right finally asked. Harry stared at him blankly.

"Why is there a Transfiguring Potion in my coffee?" he asked again, voice lowering dangerously. The twins suddenly realised they had probably met the most grumpy morning person in the entire castle. And it was the famous Boy-Who-Lived. Who was also very upset about the change in his morning routine.

The twins blanched and ran away.

Harry blinked at the empty space in front of him, before abandoning the tainted coffee and walking over to his godfather.

"Coffee," he grunted. Remus smiled calmly, understanding that this was not the time to tease his godson, and handed the teen a pot of coffee he had prepared the moment he realized something was wrong. Harry grabbed the pot and was back at the Slytherin table in no time. He sat down, grabbed a new mug and finally got to drink his first cup of coffee this morning. He closed his eyes in bliss, sighed and drank the rest of the mug in one gulp.

The whole Hall had been watching the proceedings in absolute silence. Now, students got back to eating their breakfast, but no one touched the coffee. Several students had started to drink coffee after it had become the norm to find it on the tables, but none of them had reached Harry's level of addiction.

* * *

In Charms, the first class on Tuesdays, people were giving Harry a wide berth. He hadn't cheered up as he usually did after his coffee. He was walking around with a figuratively thundercloud over his head and everyone in the Charms class was sensible enough to see that caution was wise. Draco was the only one who dared sit next to him, since he was the only one who knew how to act carefully and who understood that it was the Weasley twins who was in trouble.

Harry wasn't concentrating on the class at all. He was bent over a piece of parchment and diligently taking notes, but it had nothing to do with Charms. The headline read "Payback, Marauder style". He knew that the twins were fans of the Marauders. Remus had had a huge grin on his face when he informed them that he had confiscated a certain map from them. Harry was now in possession of said map. He was planning to set his knowledge from the two remaining Marauders to good use. The twins would regret ever messing with the coffee.

Draco was taking notes next to him, but he took quick peeks on Harry's parchment from time to time. Harry thought he could see Draco smirking quite evilly at one point. Harry thought the Slytherin should smirk evilly more often. It was quite fetching on the blonde.

Halfway through Charms Harry had written his notes, and started to pay attention to what Flitwick was saying. Charms weren't his favourite class, but he found it fairly interesting. Especially sine Flitwick, who was half-something (Harry hadn't found out what yet), had been sending Harry curious looks ever since he arrived at school. It took a while before Harry realized that it wasn't because of who he was, but rather _what_ he was. Flitwick had this intelligent, curious look in his eyes every time he glanced Harry's way.

When Charms was over Harry told his friends he'd see them at lunch, and walked away. Several shortcuts later, a stop in his dorm room, he was in the kitchen. The closets elves turned his way the moment he entered, and five of them came over to ask what they could do for him.

"Did you know that someone managed to put a potion in the coffee at the Slytherin table this morning?" he asked. The poor House Elves so horrified Harry nearly regretted what he was about to do.

"I don't blame you," he said when tiny little creature on the left started to tear up. "In fact, I know who is responsible." That got attention like nothing else. All the Elves closest to him were staring expectantly at him with those huge unnerving eyes. He cleared his throat.

"I will tell you who did it if you promise to help me punish them," he hedged. Many tiny, green heads nodded so the huge ears flapped, creating an odd noise reverberating in the kitchen.

"The two red-headed twins in Gryffindor," he said. Several House Elves looked like they knew who he was talking about. The twins were probably regular visitors. Harry brought two potion vials out of his pocket. "I want you to make sure this gets into their goblets at lunch today, well, now." Most of the House Elves looked nervous about that, but one close to Harry reached out her hand. This particular House Elf was old and wrinkly, and Harry thought he had found the boss down here. No one protested when she took the vials and promised to get it done with a solemn nod. Harry thanked them, which caused several of them to start wailing, and left to lunch.

Harry took his seat next to Blaise and ignored his friends' curious looks. He had taken out his parchment again and was taking notes on it when the Remus came into the Hall. He wandered over to the Slytherin table and handed Harry a small notebook. Harry grinned widely, his first smile of the day.

"You got it back!" he exclaimed happily. Remus grinned back.

"Give 'em hell, cub," he said. Harry grinned devilishly, and Remus grinned wider before wandering on to the staff table. Blaise and Draco exchanged uncertain glances, and apparently decided not to ask. Pansy didn't have such qualms.

"What's that, Harry?" she asked and leaned close to look at the nondescript little book.

"That is my prank-book," he said. "Sirius stole it in June, and refused to give it back. He's been trying to read it, but he always ends up clutching the floor to the best of his abilities, believing the world has turned upside-down." Pansy, Blaise and Draco exchanged glances.

"Why would he believe that, if you don't mind me asking?" Blaise asked carefully. Harry looked up from the notes he was copying into the book.

"It's charmed," he said, as if the was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Of course," Draco drawled with a raised eyebrow. Pansy sniggered and turned back to her food. Harry didn't even eat. He rarely got hungry enough to eat a lot, and today he wasn't hungry at all. Instead, he got out a Blood Pop and called it lunch. Draco glanced in his direction again, but Harry expertly ignored him.

Nothing untoward happened during lunch, although Harry kept sending evil looks at the Weasley-twins. Said twins were looking very nervous and kept glancing every way and checking their food for tampering. Harry grinned evilly when lunch let out and he, Blaise and Draco got up to walk to Ancient Runes.

* * *

At dinner that day, there was some commotion at the Gryffindor table. Ron Weasley was looking around and talking very loudly to the people in the year above him. Draco covertly checked the table for the reason for the youngest Weasley brother's agitation.

"Harry, where are the twins?" he asked carefully.

"You'll see soon, I hope," Harry answered. He was eating his dinner and watching the entrance doors out of the corner of his eye. Blaise and Pansy turned towards them, curiosity awoken.

In that moment the doors opened to reveal two dripping wet twins. The whole Hall turned to look at them when they walked in, and instantly the laughing started. Ron Weasley could be seen gaping in his seat as his question about his missing brothers was answered.

Apparently they had gone swimming in the lake.

Both twins were wearing glaring orange spandex suits that clashed horribly with their hair. One twin picked a long strand of seaweed out of his hair and the other was scratching intensively on a spot on his stomach. Hysterical laughter had now spread through the entire Hall. The twins stopped right in front of Harry.

"You realize –," one said.

"– That this means war?" the other finished.

Harry nodded solemnly.

"But the coffee is out of bounds, or I'll get nasty with you," he answered neutrally. They both nodded in agreement. They too realized that doing something to the coffee had not been their wisest choice. Harry Potter's coffee-addiction was widely known through school now, but the twins hadn't been there when Harry had gone to the Headmaster to demand coffee. The twins had done the mistake of not believing the story their brother told them, preferring to think he had over exaggerated.

The twins then looked at each other, shrugged and turned back to Harry, this time with grins.

"How did you do it?" they asked. Harry smirked.

"Like I would reveal my secrets to you," he snorted. "I can, however, reveal that the reason why the Giant Squid was so taken with you was the seeds that are stuck to those lovely suits." They both looked down at their stomachs to see the tiny, itchy specks they had both tried to remove.

"What kind –"

"– Are they?"

Harry snorted again.

"I'll tell you if you can beat me in a prank war," he said, grinning slyly. The twins exchanged glances.

"It's on," they said together.

"We'll do –"

"– The Marauders –"

"– Proud!" They looked mighty happy, before they noticed that their adversary had fallen to the table with peals of laughter.

"What are you –" began the one on the right.

"– Laughing of?" finished the one on the left. Harry tried to hold in his laughter, but it couldn't be helped. That was the moment Remus decided he wanted to see this. He wanted to see the twins' faces when they found this out.

"What is going on here?" he asked the students. The twins turned to their side to see him.

"We are just having a friendly prank war, Professor," one twin answered.

"Harry, what is so funny?" Remus turned to his godson and gleefully looked forward to seeing the shock on the twins' faces. Harry giggled some before he managed to get control over himself long enough to look up and wipe tears of laughter.

"Fred and George Weasley, I want you to meet my godfather, also called Uncle Moony," Harry said gleefully. The twins spun towards their professor, eyes wide in pure shock.

"You're Moony?" they whispered. The Professor put on his most mischievous grin and nodded cheerfully. The twins' eyes widened even more before they turned towards each other and said at the same time.

"We're doomed."

* * *

"That was brilliant!" Blaise said happily when they were in the common rooms. He grinned from ear to ear, and was close to bouncing. Pansy was grinning quite widely too, and even Draco was smiling. They took their seats on couches by the fire and brought out their homework.

"I still think a prank war with the Weasley-twins will be dangerous, but it was worth it seeing them come into the Great Hall like that," Pansy said in a slightly dreamy voice. She had never quite forgiven them for the prank they had played on the Slytherins two years prior, where all the girls had been Gryffindor-coloured for three days.

"And to think that Professor Lupin is a Marauder!" Blaise had a proper shit-eating grin on his face. He didn't look to be in the mood for homework at the moment.

"Yeah, I must say I have some problems believing that," Draco said while looking over his notes from Charms. Harry gave him a pleading look. Draco rolled his eyes, copied his notes and gave one to Harry. Harry grinned in thanks.

"Remus is one heck of a prankster," Harry told them. "He and Sirius have prank wars all the time. It often ends up with them against me and father. Or, father tries to keep out until Sirius hits him with something and father joins my team for revenge." Blaise sniggered, while Draco sighed. He was starting to understand that their new friend was a prankster and it unnerved him.

"Just don't drag me into this war of yours," he said.

"Of course not," Harry answered easily. "I'll just get help from Remus and Sirius. The twins don't stand a chance against two Marauders and one junior Marauder."

"Wait, does that mean that the infamous Marauders were Professor Lupin, Sirius Black and your dad?" Blaise asked surprised. Harry grinned and nodded.

"Sirius has been training me in the art of pranking since we met," he said. "He takes his pranking more seriously than anything else."

"If he's one of the infamous Marauders that's not really so odd," Pansy said absentmindedly as she rewrote her notes of the day. Harry thought it was funny how the girl was always obsessing over her handwriting. She always rewrote her notes after class so she could perfect her handwriting. The boys rewrote notes too, but that was because they used shortenings they wouldn't remember later. Harry was really bad at taking notes from lectures. He never needed to take notes when he was basically homeschooled from a bunch of old vampires, who didn't believe in such rubbish as notes.

"But weren't they four?" Draco asked. Harry grimaced.

"Yeah, but the last one, Wormtail, turned out to be a filthy little rat," he said with finality. They didn't ask more after that.

* * *

Wednesday was Halloween, a day Harry had loved for years. He didn't know how I would be celebrated at Hogwarts, but he hoped it was good. Crispin held on to old traditions from Samhain, but had loosened enough on the rules to let Harry go trick-or-treating when he was a kid. He also held a Halloween party at Blood Play every year. The decorations alone were awesome. Jack-o-Lanterns everywhere, modern though it was.

Of course, Samhain was the vampires' favourite holiday, what with being the holiday of darkness and the time to celebrate loved ones who have passed. No one had lost more loved ones than old vampires.

Harry wasn't as grumpy that morning when they walked to breakfast. He still weren't his normal happy self yet, but he didn't snarl at Blaise when he tried to wake him, which Blaise saw as a good sign.

After his coffee Harry was looking around the Hall in disappointment. There were no decorations, nothing to say that this was the most important Sabbath in the Wizarding World. Maybe Crispin was right. Harry's father regularly had long rants about how the old traditions were dying out from the Wizarding society.

"What's up, Harry?" Pansy asked lightly from her seat next to him.

"The ceiling," was Harry's automatic answer. Silence. He turned to the girl, who was giving him a look that clearly stated "Really? Are you going to play this game?"

"Where's the decorations?" he asked instead.

"They decorate for the Halloween dinner," she answered happily now that Harry stopped being silly.

"What else do they do for Halloween?" he asked hopefully. Draco snorted.

"Nothing," he said. "There's really good food, but nothing to remind us of Samhain." Harry's face fell. They picked up their bags and walked out of the Hall heading towards Defence.

"Nothing? Father was right then, the traditions are dying out," he sighed. "That's too bad."

"It's all the Muggleborns," Draco said. "They aren't thought about Wizarding traditions when they come into our world, they bring their own instead. And so the old traditions die out." Harry nodded.

"Well, some of us will keep it up though," he said sadly. "Just not many, and eventually the real Samhain will be forgotten. Especially since the school doesn't even mention it."

"The decorations better be good," Harry grumbled with a scowl.

They reached the Defence classroom where they were greeted by an unusual frowning Remus. When everyone was seated, Professor Lupin cleared his throat and scowled at the class.

"I've had it up to here," here Remus lifted his arm to neck-height "with the questions about werewolves, their characteristics, manners and _mating_! Who thought it would be a good idea to ask a werewolf about personal questions like that?" Professor Lupin was staring at his students looking mighty annoyed, and Harry struggled hard to not burst into laughter. He had a feeling it wouldn't be appreciated.

"I will tell you about werewolves this lesson," the professor continued. "I will teach you the difference between the myths and the truth, if only so I don't have to deal with the questions anymore." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Werewolves in general don't have much of the wolfish characteristics when in human form," he began, and the students already started taking notes. "But we do have a few. The eyesight, for one. We have better vision than humans, and we have better night vision. We also have a sharper sense of smell, although not by much. Every werewolf gets a taste for rare meat, especially around the full moon." Harry didn't think he had seen the class this attentive before. It may have something to with the fact that they were being taught about werewolves from a werewolf. It made all the difference.

"When it comes to mannerism, on the other hand," Remus continued. "There's more to consider. For me, who was bitten as a child, the wolf is a part of me at all times. This means I have some of the instincts of a wolf and some of the attitude. I do get possessive if someone I consider family, or pack, gets hurt or injured. There's also a chance that if you get me really angry with you, I will probably growl at you. This goes for anyone who has been bitten at a young age. People who are bitten as an adult already have their own personality, and the wolf tend to become a different entity inside them, only to escape on the full moon or under extreme duress." Remus sat down on the edge of his desk and surveyed the class. Harry was the only one not taking notes, but he knew all of this beforehand.

"Werewolves are also pack animals," he said after giving the students some time to note down what he had said. "We make our own packs out of people we consider family. And werewolves will protect their packs with their life."

Remus continued to tell the class the honest truth about werewolves, and Harry could see that even Theo, who had been quite reserved towards Remus, was interested.

* * *

The decorations _were_ good. Which was a good thing, or Harry felt he would be forced to do something bad. Like curse someone.

There were Jack-o-lanterns floating over the tables, bats were flying around right under the ceiling and the ghosts had just finished their magical rendition of...Harry wasn't sure what play it was supposed to be, but he had a sneaking suspicion the ghosts weren't all that into it.

"I wonder how the Headmaster got the ghosts to do that?" Pansy mused when the grumpy (Nearly Headless Nick of Gryffindor) or murderous-looking (the Bloody Baron of Slytherin) ghosts quickly drifted out of the Hall.

"Probably threatened to have them exorcised," Blaise grinned. "Nothing less than the threat of exorcism would make the Bloody Baron agree to that." The Slytherins sitting closest to them sniggered.

Blaise, Draco Harry and Pansy were sitting together on the end of the table closest to the door. They were surrounded by the people from their year and the year over them. The Slytherin table had a quite easy hierarchy, but a hierarchy nonetheless. The end by the doors was reserved for the seventh years, and the younger the years, the closer to the teachers table. This worked well for everyone (well, no one would complain as this was the way things worked in Slytherin).

The food appeared on the plates, and it was magnificent. There was the usual Shepherd's Pie, several different tarts, pumpkin pie, of course, and steak, turkey, bangers and mash and, for some obscure reason, a big bowl of M&M's. Probably the Headmaster's new obsession. There were several dishes down the table that Harry didn't recognize, but that wasn't so odd considering Harry grew up with a vampire as a father. Food wasn't something Crispin was very good at.

Harry lifted his eyebrows. The small creatures in the kitchen had really outdone themselves. Judging by the nonplussed looks on the faces of the students closest to him, this was the usual for the Halloween feast.

"Is it up to your standards, Harry?" Draco asked, just a tad sarcastically. Harry sent him his best holier-than-though look.

"It will do," he sniffed. Pansy giggled, not buying his act at all.

"They always outdo themselves at Halloween," Blaise said while he happily filled his plate with the delicious food. Harry picked some for himself and settled for enjoying the feast. Different from his traditions or not, a feast is a feast, and Harry still knew how to appreciate good food.

* * *

_That was the end of that!_

_Next chapter will have the aftermath of Halloween! Can anyone guess what that mean?_


	11. Chapter 9 Where Things Change

_Here's the next chapter, people!_

_**Disclaimer: **__*looks at her bank account* Nope, still not a millionaire. Darn. I think this means I'm not J. K. Rowling, and thus do not own Harry Potter.*sighs*_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 9 – ****Where Things Change**

It was Thursday, the day after Halloween, and once again everyone was gathered in the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was grumpily drinking his coffee and watching the others eat. For some reason, some of the older students were acting suspiciously. They were huddling together and whispering. A silencing ward was up around them, so Harry couldn't hear what they were whispering about.

The mail arrived with a flurry of owls. Harry once again resisted the urge to growl at the birds. He had never liked them, not after the vicious bird Ian had used to send letters. Ian's owl disliked everyone that was not Ian. Not even Sash or Tash could touch that bird.

Blaise unrolled his copy of the Daily Prophet and promptly gasped. Pansy and Draco both looked up from their food to see what disturbed their friend. Through the entire Hall, students were starting to gossip loudly. Harry looked up to the teachers' table briefly to see all the teachers looking sombre, even Dumbledore was grave. Remus gave Harry a sad and worried look before he turned to listen to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, who was also wearing a concerned frown.

There were also four men Harry had never seen before up there. That worried him; they were there for a reason, the only question was what. Two of the men looked like twins; both with short brown hair. The man sitting next to them was big, in the muscled way, with a clean shaven head. The last man was a small man with glasses and orange hair. All of them had grave faces and were talking quietly amongst themselves.

Harry didn't buy the newspaper; he got to hear the news anyway if it was something important. Mostly it had been speculating about him and Voldemort's whereabouts. Draco and Pansy had been nearly horrified to know that Crispin didn't buy the newspaper, and therefore Harry wasn't used to reading it.

Draco, Blaise and Pansy were hunched over the paper, whispering furiously and sending worried glances Harry's way. Harry erected a silencing barrier before leaning over to see what had gotten them so distressed.

_**Death Eaters attack Diagon Alley!**_

Underneath the headline was a black-and-white picture of Diagon Alley, still with thick, black smoke floating over the street.

Harry reached for the paper and Pansy absently gave it to him, while listening to Draco's thoughts to the subject.

_On Halloween night, several black robed D__eath Eaters stormed Diagon Alley. Many people were in the Alley at the time, and there were 27 wounded and 12 deaths. The survivors are currently in St Mungos undergoing healing from our best healers._

_Only t__wo Death Eaters were captured when the Aurors arrived on scene, but they were unwilling to talk._

_The biggest shock of this unsuspected attack was __that the vampires have joined He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! Our Minister of Magic had this to say:_

"_It was only a question of time before they joined You-Know-Who. __The Ministry is working hard with a new legislation so we can fight back against the vampires. It is our findings that all the vampires have joined You-Know-Who. This makes the treaty between Wizards and vampires null and void."_

_The treaty __was set up by the Ministry and the vampires in 1752 to prevent vampires from killing wizards, and wizards from hunting vampires. The Minister has decreed that every Wizard now has the right to kill a vampire in self-defence. _

_(More about the Vampire-Wizard Treaty of 1752 on page 13)_

Harry stared at the paper in fury. He could feel his fangs lengthening in his anger and he let out a hiss. He threw the paper back on the table and got out writing equipment from his bag to write a letter to Crispin. He could feel that his friends were looking at him, but he honestly didn't care at the moment. Crispin didn't read the paper, and neither did Sirius. They needed to be told about the new development.

"Can I have this?" he asked Blaise. Blaise looked down at the paper and nodded. Harry thanked him and rolled it up with the letter.

The Headmaster stood up from his seat and cleared his throat.

"I trust you have all seen the newspaper," he said sadly. "Yesterday's attack on Diagon Alley is causing the Wizarding World great grief. You will notice that some of your fellow students are missing. Five students from this school had family in Diagon Alley at the time of the attack. I will ask you to remember that when they come back."

"Because of the new addition to Voldemort's army, we have four visitors from the Ministry today," the Headmaster continued. Harry could feel himself getting anxious. He didn't like where this was going. "These four gentlemen work with warding, and they are here for our protection. They will ward the castle so vampires will not be able to get in here and harm any of you." Several students cheered. Harry felt horrified. This was a disaster. A real, honest disaster. He could dimly see Remus sitting completely still further down the table, looking quite pale, but managing to not look too horror-struck.

"This will mean a change in the regular school life," the Headmaster ploughed on. "Curfew is now at eight o'clock and students are required to be inside before sundown. Any students that need to be on the grounds after that have to be in the company of a teacher. Also, there will be no Hogsmeade weekends until further notice." Several students groaned at this, but no one complained loudly.

Harry turned back to the table and stared hard at the letter he had just rolled up. He would need to add a PS. Something needed to be done about this. Harry could also feel the appalled emotions rolling off his three friends. Good to know he wasn't the only one who saw the problems with this.

Then he got up from the table, not caring that many people stared at him. Dumbledore had just sat down after his speech and people were still not over the news. He could hear that someone followed him (Draco, from the smell), but he didn't stop to wait. Draco walked up to his side when they got out in the hallway.

"How will this ward affect you?" Draco asked carefully. Harry sighed and resisted the urge to hit something.

"It will most likely prevent me from leaving school ground," he said angrily. He kicked at the floor and gave a frustrated noise. "I have to do something about this! I _have_ to go home to feed!" Draco looked sympathetic, but didn't have anything comforting to say.

"I wrote to father about it," Harry said. "He will probably have some advice on what to do. Both about the rogues banding with Voldemort and this wards business."

"Rogues?" Draco repeated. Harry gave him a look.

"You didn't honestly think that all the vampires had joined Voldemort, did you?" he asked. Draco shook his head hesitantly. Harry raised an eyebrow at him, and Draco looked slightly sheepish. Harry let out an annoyed huff. "The rogues are vampires without covens. More specifically: They are coven less vampires who have grouped together in violent gangs. And they don't really care about the treaty. That kind of the definition of a rogue: a vampire who doesn't care about the treaty."

"I see," Draco nodded. "And it's them who have joined Voldemort? Only them?" Harry nodded.

"The covens have meetings on cases such as this," he answered. "There's no way the covens will have joined him. There are too many variables in to consider; too many different individuals with different thoughts. A coven wouldn't be able to agree on this very quickly. Father told me we haven't even been approached yet."

"Are there many rogues?" Draco asked carefully. Harry shook his head.

"Not compared to the ones who live in covens," he answered. "Most vampires prefer that way of living. It's a security in knowing someone has your back. Also, vampires are quite social beings, and having a coven is like having a big extended family. Although we're not as close as, say a werewolf pack. Vampires tend to travel around a lot, but most will have a coven to come home to. Some of the members we don't see in years, some will come often and others never leave. It's quite individual how they see the coven. We do have rules that have to be followed though.

"There are about a hundred rogues at any time in Britain," Harry continued. "That's about 10 % of the vampires who call Britain their home."

"It sounds so interesting," Draco said musingly. "You basically have your own community within the Wizarding world, just like the Wizarding world is hidden within the Muggle one. It's fascinating." Harry gave Draco an odd look.

"You're weird," he stated. Draco pushed him in retaliation.

They walked the rest of the way to the Owlery in silence. Harry selected one of the school owls and sent it on its way to London. He knew it wouldn't take it long to reach Crispin. He would probably get a reply by lunchtime.

He stared out of the window, not really seeing the view. Draco stood next to him, and Harry felt that he was being watched. He turned to look at the blonde. Draco looked worried.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Harry snorted.

"I may have to come out, so to speak, a lot earlier than planned," he answered. "And they will still put up those wards. I bet they will make me feel mighty uncomfortable. And let's not forget about the whole not able to leave school ground thing. That's going to be a major issue." He sat down on the floor under the window and rubbed his face with his hands. Draco didn't quite manage to suppress his noise of distaste at the idea of sitting down on the Owlery floor.

"_Scourgify._"

When the floor next to Harry was clean enough to Draco's satisfaction, the blonde sat down. Harry watched the proceedings with amusement.

"They're not going to let you starve, Harry," he said. Harry couldn't suppress a snort.

"That's not the thing that worries me," he mumbled. Draco made a questioning noise. "When vampires reaches a certain point of thirst, we go into bloodlust. There's no emotions, no thinking, only pure instinct." He looked into Draco's eyes.

"A vampire in bloodlust is very dangerous, Draco," he said seriously."I've never had one, and I don't intend to get into one any time soon. But I don't know my limits." Draco looked just as serious as Harry felt.

"And you're sure that can happen?" he asked. Harry nodded.

"Even though I'm only half vampire, since I need blood regularly, I can go into bloodlust," he answered. "I hope Dumbledore isn't going to be stupid about this, so that I can continue at Hogwarts without being a danger to anyone." Draco nodded in agreement.

"Am I disturbing something?" asked a vaguely amused voice from the door. Harry and Draco turned to the door and saw Remus standing in the door-opening. Then it dawned on Draco how close they were sitting, and he actually blushed a little before edging away. Harry grinned widely at him and Remus smiled amusedly.

"Have you sent a letter to Crispin?" Remus said, suddenly serious.

"Yes," Harry answered. "I also sent along a copy of the Daily Prophet." Remus nodded.

"Wise move," he said. "I think we need to go to the Headmaster's office, Harry. We need to tell him about the situation and see if the warders have an alternative."

"Are you sure the warders can be trusted?" Harry asked worriedly.

"They work for the Department of Mysteries," Remus said. "So I think they're reliable as long as we swear them to silence." Harry nodded.

"We can do that," he said. He looked at his watch. Their Ancient Runes class started very soon, so Draco needed to be going to the classroom.

After a quick _scourgify_ on Harry's robe, they walked in silence to the hallway that held the gargoyle that was guarding the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Draco said his goodbye and wished Harry good luck before he walked on to the classroom, while Remus said the password to the gargoyle.

They took the moving spiral-staircase in silence. Harry was starting to get very anxious and was just about to open his mouth to tell Remus what a bad idea this was, when they reached the door and Remus immediately opened it. The five people inside looked up when the door was opened. The warders stared at Remus and Harry with curious expressions, while Dumbledore just looked mildly curious.

"Remus! What brings you here now? And you brought young Harry with you!" Dumbledore exclaimed in his jovial manner. "Harry, my boy, shouldn't you be in class now?" His voice took on that disapproving tone it had had in their earlier conversation, weeks prior. Harry found himself grasping his mantra gain. _Cool, polite, aloof_.

"We have some urgent business we thought it would be wise to attend to right away," Remus said politely. The Headmaster conjured two new seats so they could sit down on the side, with the warders on their right.

"What was it you wanted to discuss, Remus?" he asked. Harry saw well-hidden curiosity in the Headmaster's eyes.

"Actually, it's me that needs to talk about something," Harry said. Dumbledore turned his way, and Harry could feel the curiosity burning from the warders. Harry turned toward them.

"I would like you all to make a promise to not mention what I am about to tell you," he said. "Actually, I want to all to swear on your magic that you will not talk about this to anyone else." The men were visually surprised, but after looking at Harry's forehead and exchanging glances with each other, took out their wands and swore.

"How would the ward affect a vampire that's already in the castle?" Harry asked neutrally. The man with the glasses blinked, and the others looked quite taken aback. Remus leant back and was ready to stay there and be supportive.

"At first it would make the vampire want to leave," the big man answered. He had a deep gravelly voice that Harry thought fascinating to listen to. "But no vampire will be able to cross the gates of the school when he wards are up, no matter which side he or she was on beforehand."

"So if a vampire was inside the castle, he or she wouldn't be able to leave?" Harry asked. All the warders nodded. "But he or she would want to be elsewhere?"

"Well, not exactly," the one with the glasses answered. "After the initial need to leave, the vampire would feel uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable, I'd wager. We haven't actually tried to make a ward like this around a vampire, since it's designed to keep the vampire out, not in." Harry sighed.

"And how would it affect a half-vampire?" he asked. The big guy lifted his eyebrows.

"It would affect a half-vampire in much the same way," the man in the glasses explained.

"If you don't mind me asking, my boy, why does this interest you?" Dumbledore asked from where he sat behind his desk. Harry looked at him.

"Because I am half-vampire and I find that this warding business presents a problem for me," he said neutrally. The effect on Dumbledore's face was instant. His twinkle disappeared and for a blessed moment his face portrayed pure shock. Harry turned towards the warders again and was pleasantly surprised to see that none of them looked too shocked or upset. They had probably gotten a good inkling on the direction of this discussion by his unusual questioning.

"Yes, I can see the problem here," the big guy said. "You will feel uncomfortable, and it will prevent you from leaving the castle."

"Is it your guardian that has done this to you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked in a pitying voice that really got on Harry's nerves. _Cool polite, aloof_ went through his head, stopping him from doing something he would regret. He glared at Dumbledore instead.

"Yes, if you must know, it is," he said angrily. "He saved my life too, by the way. If he hadn't done what he did, I would have died." Harry knew his fangs had lengthened in his anger, but didn't do anything to hide it. Dumbledore looked so sad and pitying is made Harry sick. He exhaled angrily. _Cool, polite, aloof._

"My biggest problem here," Harry said, retracting his fangs and looking directly at Dumbledore. "Is that I go home every weekend to feed. I need to feed at least once a week. How are we going to fix this, Headmaster?" The Headmaster looked quite contemplative. Harry wasn't surprised that he managed to reign himself in this fast. He was very good at portraying only the emotions he wanted to.

"The wards must be put up," he said. "What can you do to make this easier for Mr Potter?" he asked the warders. They looked pensive.

"We need to do some changes to it, but it will take at least a week to find a way to make him more comfortable," one of the brothers spoke for the first time. Harry sent them a panicked look.

"A week?" he repeated. "How will I get home this weekend then?" The men looked at each other again.

"I can't see a way we can change the wards now," the one in the glasses, who was fittingly the geekier one in the bunch, answered. "And we have to put them up, as per instructed by the Ministry." Harry looked at Remus for advice. Remus looked truly sorry, but he shrugged.

"I can't see what we can do, Harry," he said sadly. "Maybe you should ask one of your friends to be a donor for this weekend?" Harry looked at him dubiously.

"I don't want them to feel forced," he answered. "And they are going to feel forced if I ask them." Remus sighed and looked at the warders questioningly.

"There's nothing you can do now?" he asked pleadingly. They all shook their heads sadly.

"We are under orders to place the wards," the bulky one answered. "So we have to do that. We will find a way for him to feel more comfortable, but we can't make a loophole that will allow him to leave. This it to keep vampires out, so we can't make an opening for one vampire." Harry nodded to show that he understood.

"Even when there's only a small part of the vampire population that has joined Voldemort?" Remus asked, sounding agitated. Harry sighed.

"Remus, there's nothing we can do," he said. "We just have to see if father or Sirius can come up with something." Remus growled, and Harry suddenly remembered that the full moon was tonight.

"Remus, calm down," he said calmly. Hearing this from a pack member helped and Remus visibly calmed down, altough his eyes stayed more amber than their usual brown. Harry turned back to Dumbledore and his company. "Well, if there's nothing that can be done now, I'd better get going to class. When will the ward be up? It would be nice to know, so I'm warned."

"It will be up by tomorrow morning," the brawny one answered. Harry sighed.

"There a slight possibility that I will not be in class tomorrow, Headmaster," he mumbled.

"I want to talk to you again at a later date, my boy," the Headmaster said. "I will let you know when to come to my office tomorrow." Harry sent the old man an impatient and quite irritated look, before he stood up. Remus rose too and the two of them walked out of the office.

* * *

_Raven,_

_I'm sorry, my Childe, there's nothing I can do at the moment, especially since I can't even enter the Castle. This frustrates me more than I can say. I will do what I can, but my reach within the Wizarding World is limited. I do, however, know someone who is quite good with warding theory. I will ask him to help the warders come up with a solution. They will be staying at Hogwarts to change the wards, will they not?_

_We need to find you a donor. Is there someone in the Castle that would volunteer for this? We can try to get a donor inside the Castle for you, but it would be difficult. __There's a slight chance that my friend in the warding business will volunteer, but we can't put everything on that. I would like to have a conversation with your Headmaster about this, but I can see that it will not happen in the Castle._

_I have sent word to all our coven members, we will have a gathering to see what we will do with the rogues. I will notify you on what we decide.  
_

_Take care, Raven, and we'll do our best to help you._

_Crispin_

_PS: Hey, pup, it's Sirius! I'll be coming to Hogwarts to talk with the Headmaster; although I bet Remus have already done it. Something needs to be done, and the more pressure we put on Dumbledore, the better. Love you, pup! _

Harry rolled up the letter and sighed. I hadn't been sure if there was something they could do. Now he knew that they probably couldn't do anything. Although the warder that Crispin was going to send to school was going to be helpful. Even though Crispin kept mostly out of the Wizarding World, he did know quite a few people in it.

He sighed again and turned back to his friends. Blaise and Pansy were sitting on the opposite side of the table from him and Draco. Blaise was sending him questioning looks.

"Father is contacting a friend of his who is good at warding theory," Harry said. "There's a good chance that he will help them get it done quicker. And since they already know of my situation, they might not have as much trouble with accepting his help. I still won't be able to leave the castle though."

Harry sighed and packed up his stuff to go to Defence. He hoped Remus was in a better mood now, especially since that night was the full moon. Remus had a tendency to be in a violent mood those days. Most students had learned by now to memorize the full moon days, so they knew when not to stretch the limits in Defence class.

* * *

At dinner that day the big topic amongst the Slytherin sixth years was their Defence professor's very bad mood. Also, Sirius had joined the teachers, and he and Remus were now sitting at the teachers' table talking lowly and occasionally sending Dumbledore dirty looks. This baffled many students, and several Slytherins turned toward Harry to see if he knew why his godfathers were behaving so suspiciously.

Harry, on the other hand, was also in a bad mood. He had a feeling the next week would be quite bad for him. And he knew that he could spread that mood.

Maybe he ought to plan a new prank on the twins. No one had said that he had to wait for them to make the next move.

* * *

_The plot thickens!_

_There's chapter 9, people! A bit more serious than chapter 8, but __it had to happen some time._


	12. Chapter 10 Where Harry has a Bad Day

_*empty room*_

_*voice comes from far under the bed* ...I'm sorry? I have no excuse. Well, I could probably find a lot of excuses if I wanted to, but none of them would be good enough. *head pokes out from under the bed* The only reason I have was that this chapter didn't want to be written. It was being difficult. I have managed to show it who's boss now, though. _

_Enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: **__If I had owned Harry Potter I certainly wouldn't be living in student accommodations. But since I _am_ living in student accommodations, I guess I don't own._

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**Chapter 10 ****– Where Harry has a Bad Day**

Friday morning, about 5 in the morning to be precise, Harry awoke to the most uncomfortable feeling he had ever felt. He felt a cold gush go down his back and everything started to itch. He sat up in bed and resisted the urge to scratch his back. It was cold, which was a sensation he hadn't felt since he was 7 years old. He also got an urge to go home; to get away from Hogwarts. Far, far away from Hogwarts even, but he had a feeling it would have been stronger if he hadn't already been inside the castle. And he could slowly feel the urge to bolt out fade.

He pulled the duvet up and wrapped himself up in it. The end result was a cocoon with Harry's hair. It didn't really help. It was still cold. He didn't want to leave anymore, but he certainly wasn't enjoying himself either.

He was almost regretting not packing up and leaving the school the moment he knew about the wards. He had his reasons though, and he couldn't just up and leave the school. He liked it here; he had friends his own age for the first time in his life. It also helped that being here let him know more about what Voldemort was up to, and he could keep an eye on the Death Eaters in school.

He sighed and snuggled further into his duvet.

He sat there for hours, shivering and resisting the urge to scratch the itching. He knew it wouldn't help. He was starting to feel a bit nauseous when he heard noises that told him someone else was getting up. Padding footsteps passed his bed and a door opened, then closed. He thought it could be Theo. He was always up earlier than Blaise and Draco, or at least Harry thought so since the other boy was never anywhere to see when he got up. He barely saw Crabbe and Goyle, but they never spoke anyway so it wasn't important.

Harry didn't even bother to move from his spot cocooned in his bed until the curtains were drawn and Draco stood there, looking vaguely concerned.

"How are you faring?" he asked. Harry stared at him over the edge of his duvet.

"I'm cold," he said. "I haven't been cold in years." He knew he was whining, but damnit, he wanted to!

"Welcome to the world of the living!" Blaise said while coming toward them from the bathroom. Harry growled at him.

"Whoa! Harry, chill!" the Italian boy raised his hands in defence.

"I'm not coming out of here," Harry grumbled. "There's no way I'll be at classes today."

"We have Potions," Draco said, as if that simple sentence should make Harry jump out of bed and get dressed. "Professor Snape is never happy if one of us Slytherins doesn't turn up without a good reason."

"I should think this is a good reason," Harry grumbled and snuggled further into his duvet. "Leave me alone. Tell Snape I'm sick should he enquire about my whereabouts."

Draco raised an unimpressed eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Harry felt a flash of warmth in the abdomen at the sight. The blonde was very good looking, and the regal look he adopted at times only enhanced that.

"There's no need to get snippy with me, Draco," _yes, please do_, "I understand that missing classes isn't high on your to-do list, but this is exceptional circumstances," Harry mumbled inside his nest of duvet. Draco sighed.

"Get out of that duvet this instant and stop feeling sorry for yourself," he said in a no-nonsense voice still with his arms crossed. Harry sent Draco his best puppy-dog look from inside his cocoon.

"Do I have to?" he asked in his most pitiful voice. Draco's face actually softened a little, but he nodded anyway. Harry sighed heavily and started to untangle himself from his beddings. He scrambled out of bed and pulled on the clothes nearest to him. He scowled half-heartedly at Draco and shuffled towards the door. He felt horrible. And he was going to let the world know that.

* * *

It took the rest of Slytherin two cursed fourth years and a crying first year before they realized that Harry's foul mood wasn't going away after his coffee. They all gave him a wide berth after that.

"Harry... We have Potions now," Pansy said carefully. Harry grunted, got up from his seat and proceeded to walk out of the Great Hall. Draco sighed and brought Harry's school bag.

"This is going to be a long day," Blaise mumbled and stalked after them. Pansy sighed heavily before deciding to stay with Daphne all day. It might be safer to do so.

Harry reached the Potions classroom fairly quickly. No one bothered him on the way; most people knew better by now.

Professor Snape was there, as the only one. Harry flopped gracelessly down on his usual chair and stared into the empty air. The Professor gave him an inquiring look, before turning his attention back to the book he was reading. When Draco came in and deposited Harry's bag, Snape lifted one eyebrow to convey his curiosity. Draco minutely shook his head and sat down by his own desk.

Harry did notice the people around him, but had decided not to care what they got up to. Unless the Weasley twins thought this was the day they should prank him; then it would be _on_. He was grumpily staring right ahead of himself acting for the world like statue. From time to time he would shiver, and then scowl angrily for a while. Draco sent him worried looks, before turning back to his Potions text. Professor Snape had by now given up all pretences to reading and was giving Harry a calculating look that would have scared the bejeezus out of the younger years. Harry was ignoring him in favour of banging his head hard on the desk and then just staying there.

The doors opened and the rest of the students filed in. Most of the Slytherins were already there, on their side of the classroom, every one of them keeping a wary eye on Harry at the same time.

Hermione sat down next to Harry, and he could practically _feel_ her curiosity.

"You alright, Harry?" she asked. Harry grunted into the desk. He felt Hermione poking his shoulder.

"The class starts now, and I don't think you should sit like that when we brew potions on the table," she said with a no-nonsense attitude that grated on Harry's nerves at the moment.

"Please stop talking," he mumbled to the table before he thought better of it. Her indignant huff and the angry vibes he got from her confirmed that she had heard him and had, indeed, taken offence. But she stopped talking, so Harry wouldn't complain.

Then Snape started to talk, and Harry reluctantly picked his head up from his desk to stare emptily at the teacher and pretend to be paying attention.

Luckily for Harry, he was a Slytherin and thus was relatively safe from Professor Snape's acidic remarks. It didn't hurt that he did well in Potion either. Both were points in his favour, which really made Snape rather neutral to him. Harry knew very well of the relationship between his birth dad and Snape, so he wasn't surprised. A bit resentful, but not surprised.

They survived Potions with minimal damage. Hermione was wearing a wide eyed, traumatized look and her hair was frizzier than ever when she hurried out of the room at an impressive speed. Pansy sent her a curious look, before noticing the downright murderous look on her vampire friend's face.

Blaise didn't notice.

"What's up with her?" he asked curiously while packing his ingredients in his bag. Draco slapped him in the back of his head when Harry let out a growl and stared at Blaise like he wanted him dead.

"Mister Potter, stay back," Professor Snape called out coolly. Harry sat down in his chair without a sound.

His mood had become worse as the class progressed, and poor Hermione had gotten the blunt end of his anger. Professor Snape was intelligent enough to see that something was wrong with one of his students, and he had the ability to put two and two together. Harry had no doubt that Snape knew, or at least suspected, why he was in such a bad mood.

Draco and Blaise cast Harry worried looks before walking out of the classroom. They knew better than to linger when Snape looked like that.

"Mind telling me why you are in such a foul mood, Mr Potter?" Snape asked in a silky voice. Harry gave him an empty stare and didn't answer. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Mr Potter, answer me when I'm asking you a question," he said, sounding quite annoyed. Harry knew making the Potion Master annoyed was a bad idea, but he wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. He drew his wand and cast a silencing ward around them.

"I think you have guessed something, Professor," Harry said slowly. He looked straight into the professor's eyes and raised his eyebrows. "It's the wards. They bother me. They make me uncomfortable. They make me irritable." It gave Harry a vicious sort of pleasure to see that the usually stoic man looked surprised. His eyes widened minutely and Harry could _smell_ the apprehension.

"Don't worry, Professor, I'm not out to eat your students," Harry said dryly. "I'm not even a full-out vampire. Only half."

"Is the Headmaster aware of this, Mr Potter?" the Professor asked, having gotten his expression under control again.

"As of yesterday, yes," Harry answered moodily. "Professor Lupin accompanied me to the Headmaster to see if there was something that could be done. My father is sending a friend of his that knows a thing or two about warding. They're going to see if they find a solution." He crossed his arms and stared blankly at the Professor.

Harry could easily imagine the cogs moving in his professor's head. He was staring at Harry with an inscrutable expression with slight suspicion lurking in his eyes. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Is this going to be a problem, Professor?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question, Mr Potter," Professor Snape said silkily. "Is your status going to pose a problem?" Harry snorted derisively.

"No," he said shortly. He gave Snape a blank look and silently dared him to challenge this short answer. The professor raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"You can leave," the man said shortly. Harry nodded and got up from the chair. He walked silently to the Great Hall, where the lunch was going strong. Draco, Blaise and Pansy was waiting for him, looking curious and slightly wary.

"What did he want?" Blaise asked lowly the moment Harry sat down. Harry resisted the urge to bare his teeth and growl for the sole reason that they were in the crowded Great Hall and everyone had vampire paranoia.

"He wanted me to confirm his suspicions. I did," he stated shortly and scowled at the food in front of him. The three shared surprised looks and did some silent communication they probably thought he didn't see. Harry didn't give them time to decide what to do. He looked to the teacher's table and saw a new face sitting by the warders. His father's friend had arrived. That was good news at least. Harry also thought he recognized him. The man had been at Blood Play at some point. More than once even, if Harry could recognize him. Samuel something, he thought the name was.

Remus and Sirius were looking quite suspicious in their whispered conversation, and poor Remus looked tired. Since it had been the full moon the night before, it wasn't all that odd.

Harry silently let his bad mood fester and suddenly got worried about the students' reactions. Several students were looking up at the warders in curiosity. Harry couldn't blame them; there was no apparent reason for why they would stay longer.

"Did Dumbledore give a reason as to why the warders are still here?" he asked his friends. Draco nodded.

"He said something about them staying for a while to see that the wards held up and didn't interfere with Hogwarts' old wards," he explained, to Harry's great relief. His mood lifted a tiniest bit. He shifted the plate away from him, folded his arms on the table and dropped his head. He wanted to go to bed.

* * *

McGonagall mostly left him alone in Transfiguration. It didn't hurt that Harry did okay in her subject normally, but Harry couldn't help but wonder if the Headmaster had told her about him being a vampire. It wouldn't be so odd considering she was the Deputy Headmistress. But why on earth hadn't he told Professor Snape? Harry decided on not trying to figure out the Headmaster's reasoning. The old man was after all completely nutty.

After Transfiguration, McGonagall held him back and informed him that the Headmaster wanted to see him in his office. Harry sighed, not so silently mourned the disruption of his plans for sleep, and slowly trudged to the office.

The office was crowded. The four Ministry warders were there, as was Crispin's friend, maybe-Samuel. They were sitting on the couch at the left side of the room. Sirius and Remus were sitting on chairs in front of the desk next to one empty one where Harry guess he was supposed to sit. Remus looked even more tired close up than he had at the teachers' table. The stress of Harry's situation probably affected the wolf. Harry was very glad Sirius had been there to keep him company during the full moon that night. Snape was standing silently by the Headmaster, and was locked in an intense and hateful staring match with Sirius.

"Ah, there you are, my boy," the Headmaster said jovially. Harry didn't even bother to hide his sneer at the endearment he didn't think the Headmaster had any right to, and sat down in the available chair.

"What was it you wanted, Headmaster?" he asked shortly. The Headmaster's jovial face fell a little, but he quickly got it under control again.

"We have a visitor who is here to help the warders find a solution to our problem," Dumbledore said. "They are working on a way out now, but it will take some time."

"How long is 'some time'?" Harry asked. He knew he was being rude, but he felt that he had a reason today. He wasn't going to pretend to be in a good mood when really, he just felt like cursing someone and then go to bed.

"We are not sure how long it will take to find a solution," maybe-Samuel answered. This was the first time Harry got a good look of the man. He was blond and slightly butch, and Harry could safely say that the man was attractive. And vaguely familiar, which could be a bad thing when it came to people who frequented the BP.

"We have an idea already though, and we know that we can do some small changes to the wards to make them adjust to you," he continued. "We just have to figure out how." Harry nodded and tried not to wonder too much about when he had met the blonde, and if he should remember him better.

The rest of the meeting passed quickly, with Harry grumbling and glaring at Dumbledore's desk. Sirius was looking edgier and edgier between his post-moon boyfriend and his extremely unhappy godson. There was enough bad mood in the room to make even Dumbledore uncomfortable. Professor Snape had in the end forced Dumbledore to give Remus some chocolate and let his student leave. It was probably the first and only time Sirius Black and Severus Snape would ever agree to anything. Harry silently mused that it should have been put down in "_Hogwarts: A History_". The Headmaster had nodded and acted as if it was his idea all along.

Harry was moodier than ever when he left the office on his own. The adults had decided to continue the meeting for a bit longer, so the warders could explain some details, and Remus and Sirius could inform them more about exactly how Harry's half-vampire status made him different from a fully turned vampire. They had apparently figured that the fact that Harry was still half-way human would help with their problem. Harry didn't know a thing about warding and hadn't really been paying attention anyway, so he was just grateful for being released.

Dinner had begun, without the Headmaster and one of the professors, when Harry arrived to the Great Hall. He sat down next to a very apprehensive Draco, who, along with Blaise and Pansy, stopped eating to watch Harry.

"Stop staring," the moody half-vampire grumbled. He then picked up the bag of blood pops he had in his school bag, unwrapped one and put it in his mouth. Not even Pansy dared suggesting that he eat something.

* * *

The next two days were trying for everyone. Harry's mood actually got worse, a feat no one had thought possible. Most of the school was now convinced Harry had "lost it". Most of the Slytherins doubted Harry had "it" in the first place. Sirius was still at school, and he and Remus kept sending Harry nervous looks, as if they were waiting for him to snap.

Harry had a dilemma.

He needed a donor. It was Sunday, which meant he was already a day over his normal feeding schedule. He knew his friends were watching him. He knew that Remus had actually told them to watch him; he just couldn't be bothered to tell them he knew. He was thirsty. He had never gone this long without feeding, and he was feeling the strain. His fangs ached, his head hurt, his throat was dry and to top it all up, he still felt the uncomfortable, itching feeling of the wards. All in all, it made for a very miserable Harry. His mood had gone from I-want-to-strangle-someone to leave-me-and-my-misery-alone, to most peoples's relief.

He wasn't sure why he didn't ask one of his friends to be his donor for a while. It might be because he was afraid they would get weird around him. Harry was mostly a very confident guy, but having human friends, friends his own age, was still a new feeling and that made him unsure. He didn't know how they would react to certain things.

He realized, however, that this couldn't continue, and he gathered up his courage to ask them. The four were sitting in the sixth year boys' dorm doing homework at a conjured talbe sat in the middle of the room. Harry had been staring blankly at his Potions text for over an hour now without getting anywhere. He sighed gustily and pushed the book away. The three others gave him curious looks, but none of them dared speak. They knew by now that Harry was unstable at the time. He ran a hand through his hair.

"I have a question to ask you," he began, making the others look at him with more curiosity than apprehension. Harry cleared his throat nervously. "You've probably already guessed that I haven't fed since last Saturday." They nodded, now with varying degrees of worry in their eyes. Harry sighed, looked towards the ceiling as if asking for courage, and looked in his friends' eyes.

"The question I have, and I know that this is something you would need to think about, is if one of you would agree to be a donor until the warding problem is fixed?" he asked in a rush. He could see that Draco, at least, had suspected the question. Pansy and Blaise, on the other hand, fidgeted in their seats and looked quite uncomfortable. Harry gave a rueful smile.

"As I said, I'm aware that you would need time to think about this," he said. "Also, if you have any questions about the ramifications of being a vampire's donor, you're welcome to ask. I'm not going to make you answer yes or something, I'm giving you a choice."

"Does it hurt?" Pansy asked immediately. Harry started; he hadn't expected a question so fast. "Being bitten, I mean?"

"Depends," Harry answered. "If the vampire doesn't care, it will hurt a lot, but there's nearly no vampire that want that. If it hurts, the human would try to get away, which would make everything more difficult for the vampire." He noticed the looks his friends were exchanging and realized that his blasé attitude about it was making them uneasy. He sighed again and rubbed his temples. The headache was a new development. Harry thought it came from the wards and from not feeding for a while.

"Every vampire has an...aphrodisiac in their teeth," he said slowly. The three humans immediately stared at him with slightly wide eyes.

"Seriously?" Blaise asked incredulously. "So what, people you feed from get turned on?" Harry grinned.

"Yes, they do," he answered, relieved that they took this so well. He still didn't know if anyone of them would actually agree to be a donor, but they were asking questions and that was always a good sign. "We can choose not to send out the aphrodisiac, but then it would be a very painful experience. I can alter the amount I send out though, so that all the donor feel is a pleasant buzz."

"So what do you normally do?" Draco asked, looking slightly suspicious. Harry grinned sheepishly.

"I normally give out the full whammy," he said. Blaise and Pansy both reddened slightly, but Draco got a peculiar look in his eyes. Harry couldn't quite place it.

"You need to know that vampires are quite physical beings," Harry said slowly. This was going to get awkward for them. Luckily, as a vampire, he was very open-minded about sex. And talking about it.

"We are also very honest when it comes to sex and feeding, which more often than not are two sides of the same coin," Harry continued. Now Pansy was actually blushing, something Harry never thought he'd see. Or smell. He would always smell blood when around humans, but when they blushed the scent came to the surface and Harry stopped breathing for a moment to stop himself from getting hungrier. Blaise looked uncomfortable at the mention of the normal vampire feeding habit, but Draco still had that unreadable look in his eyes. Harry raised an eyebrow to them.

"So, vampires are slutty?" Pansy asked, suddenly getting over her embarrassment and taking on a gleam in her eyes that worried Harry. The scent of blood receded a bit though, so he took a relieved breath. Then what she had said registered, and Harry burst out laughing.

"Yes, Pansy, most vampires get around a lot," he said, still sniggering. The conversation was quite successfully diverting his attention away from his recent bad mood and thirst.

"You too?" she asked and narrowed her eyes in her I-want-to-know-your-deepest-darkest-secret look. Yes, she did have a look like that, and Harry thought it was almost as scary as Blaise's I'm-going-to-pick-your-brains-for-obscure-knowledge look.

"Well," he hesitated. He knew that he was more open about...well, everything. It was a vampire thing. And he'd only been around vampires, werewolves, fey and the occasional elemental while growing up. It didn't exactly inspire to be close-minded or secretive about stuff like sex. Finally, he decided to just be like he would normally with Tash and Sash: Brutally honest.

"Yeah, I do get around," he said with a snort. "Before coming to Hogwarts I would feed regularly at least twice a week. Feeding would more often than not involve sex. I have a few donors that come to the Blood Play from time to time. Mostly, the BP has a lot of human costumers that aren't specific donors, but come because they like being fed from." Blaise blinked.

"Seriously?" he asked. Both Blaise and Pansy looked like they doubted this very much. Harry sighed.

"Yes, aphrodisiac, remember?" he said. "It's a quite enjoyable experience."

"But you can control the amount, right?" Pansy asked. Harry nodded.

"I can."

All three of the humans were thinking, so Harry turned back to his Potions text to let them do their non-verbal communication that came from knowing each other since they wore diapers. At least Harry suspected they had known each other that long.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up from the book he was pretending to read to see Draco looking back at him. Pansy and Blaise was leaning over a book and discussing something or the other, but Harry couldn't hear them, which meant that someone had put up a silencing ward.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I would be willing to be a donor until the wards are fixed," Draco said, his voice determined. "Pansy and Blaise are willing to consider it and will tell you in time." Harry could help but stop a relieved smile by Draco's declaration.

"Thank you," he said honestly. "I really shouldn't have waited this long to ask. I just wasn't sure what you would think about it." Draco smirked.

"I have been waiting for the question, to be honest," he said, to Harry's great surprise. "Ever since we found out you wouldn't be able to leave the castle." Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Guess I should have gotten my head out of my arse earlier," he said with a snort. Draco nodded, smirk still in place.

"Yes, you should have," he answered. "How do you want to do this?" He was visible uncomfortable with talking about it, but his determination didn't waver.

"That's up to you," Harry said with a shrug. "You will probably be a bit dizzy afterwards, so we should be here. Should we ask Blaise and Pansy to leave?" Draco nodded.

"I think that might be a good idea," he said. He took down the silencing ward and got Blaise and Pansy's attention.

"Could you go to the common room for a while?" he said, not really taking it as a question. They both nodded and packed their homework. Blaise winked at them before leaving, causing Draco to roll his eyes and Harry to grin.

Harry got up from his chair, and dragged Draco to stand next to the blondes bed. Draco didn't look too nervous, which didn't really say much since the boy _was_ a Malfoy after all.

"Relax," Harry murmured and placed a hand on Draco's neck. He tilted Draco's head slightly to the left and placed a small kiss on the other boy's neck. Draco stiffened slightly, but didn't move.

"It is easier if you relax," Harry said lowly. "It's going to sting a little at first, but then you'll only feel a pleasant buzz." He put a slight amount of magic in his voice to make Draco relax, and it worked somewhat. The blonde relaxed enough for Harry to bite without causing unnecessary pain. He bit down quickly and ignored Draco suddenly stiffening in the first sting.

Harry nearly moaned at the taste of the blood. It had been too long. He should know better than to go over a week without feeding, even though it was only a day. He was already stretching it with a week between feedings. He made sure he didn't send out a lot of the aphrodisiac. He had a feeling Draco would be uncomfortable if he got turned on by being bitten. He also made special care not to let Draco know about his own hard-on. He hadn't lied when he said that feeding was a sexual experience for vampires.

After drinking enough to sate his thirst, he bit down slightly on his own tongue and used the blood to heal the wound on Draco's neck. There wouldn't even be a scar. Vampire blood had amazing healing properties. Not that they let humans know about that. They would hunt the vampires down for their blood.

He stepped away from Draco and searched the blonde's face for any discomfort.

"You okay?" he asked. Draco blinked twice before nodding. He looked dazed, and was swaying. Harry guided him to his bed and fetched a Blood Replenishing potion from his the bag in his trunk. Draco drank if without protest, and gained a bit of colour in his cheeks again.

"That wasn't too bad," he said slowly. Harry grinned at him. His mood was already improving greatly; the headache was going away. It was still cold though, and he still itched, but he knew that wouldn't go away before they had managed to do something about the wards.

When they all went to bed a few hours later, Harry couldn't help but be optimistic. And also very pleased that Draco had volunteered to be a donor.

* * *

_There is the 10__th__ chapter! I hope you enjoyed!_

_This chapter was being very difficult to write. Hopefully the next chapter won't give me as much trouble._


	13. Chapter 11 Where Harry Finally Snaps

_*blinks* It's insanely early in the morning, and I'm awake for the simple reason that I never went to sleep. I just couldn't leave it, the chapter was getting legs and was running away from me, I just had to follow it or I would have lost it completely._

_**Disclaimer: **__I have copes of the books, and a lot of sleepless nights, but I am not J K Rowling, so I don't own._

_**Warning: **__This chapter contains a lemon. My first lemon, in fact! It's marked, so those of you who don't want to read it can just skip it._

**Chapter 11 – ****Chaos Happens**

"Several parents have requested that we teach you how to defend yourselves against vampires," Professor Lupin started his lesson Wednesday morning on this serious note. Harry instantly woke from his near-dozing and stared at his honorary uncle in horror.

"The Headmaster has agreed to the requests, and therefore I will be using the next weeks to teach you what to do if you encounter a hostile vampire," the professor continued. Harry felt Draco tensing up in anticipation next to him.

"Yes, miss Bulstrode?"

"What do you mean with "hostile vampire", professor?" she asked. "Aren't they all hostile?" Remus sighed. Harry felt like hitting something. This was going to be a frustrating few weeks. As if it wasn't promising to be so already.

"Most vampires live in covens," Remus began. Since Harry knew all of this, he tuned out and started to doodle on a piece of parchment.

He listened to the discussion on one ear just to know what his classmates thought of vampires. Turned out most of them were positive vampires were murdering monsters. Yay. He resisted the urge to hex Theo when he uttered his belief that all vampires were like vicious animals and should be treated as such.

Draco and Blaise kept sending him discrete, worried looks, but Harry expertly ignored them to concentrate on a tiny little drawing of Millicent Bulstrode being choked by Dumbledore. Harry wasn't an artist by any means, but his stick figures were damn impressive in his own humble opinion.

Harry sorely hoped the warders were getting somewhere. If he didn't stop feeling cold soon he would probably wrap himself up in his duvet and live in front of the fireplace. Not the wisest thing to do if you were trying to remain unsuspicious. Harry thought it was odd that no one had come with suspicions of him being a vampire. His mood had undeniably gotten worse after the wards were put up, but no one seemed to have noticed. It was very odd.

After class Harry trudged after his friends to the Great Hall. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, so when his ginger stalker suddenly stood right in front of him, he nearly crashed into her.

For some reason unknown to Harry, Ginny Weasley had taken to always be near him. It wasn't like she was noticeably following him, but she stared at him an awful lot. In the Great Hall, in the library, in the hallways; heck, he'd even bumped into her on his way out of a lavatory. It made Harry a very paranoid half-vampire.

"Hello, Harry," she asked and did that rapid-blinking-thing that she did every time she talked to him. Harry grunted in response and tried to sidestep her. She had the nerve to follow so he couldn't pass. He glared at her and crossed his arms angrily. His friends hadn't noticed that he stopped, but he couldn't blame them since he'd been quietly shuffling behind them for several days now.

"I was wondering if you would like to sit with me at dinner today?" the girl asked. Harry's eyes widened minutely and he stared at her in horror. It was apparently normal for couples in different houses to sit at each other's tables at dinner. It was the Hogwarts equivalent of a date. This meant that Harry had just been asked out on a date by a ginger girl. He sighed heavily and stared at the ceiling for a while. This had gone on for long enough.

"No, thank you," he said finally and tried once more to sidestep the persistent girl. She had the nerve to follow him again, and this time she came awfully close. She pressed herself to his chest, and since he was taller than her he got an eyeful of her cleavage when he looked down. He could safely say that he preferred it when she had been looking at him from a distance. He could also safely conclude that the female anatomy did nothing for him.

He took a step back and looked her in the eye. Time to get rude.

"Listen to me, Weasley," he started seriously. "I am not interested. I will never be interested. There are several reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that I just do _not_ find you attractive." There. Rude and to the point. The girl's eyes started to tear up. Harry resisted the urge to sigh again. He was not about to feel bad for putting the truth out to his stalker.

This time she didn't try to stop him when he sidestepped her.

Two stairs later he ran into Draco who was heading the wrong way. He raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"We decided that one of us should keep close to you for the sake of our fellow students," the blonde drawled. "We didn't notice that you where gone until we had reached the Great Hall, so it was decided that I should head back to find you and make sure you weren't terrifying some poor first year." Harry scowled at Draco in mock-anger.

"I was cornered by my own personal stalker," he grumbled. "She asked me if I wanted to sit with her at dinner today." Harry shuddered and scowled some more at Draco when the blonde sniggered.

"Should I inform Blaise and Pansy about you alternative dinner plans?" he asked, eyes glinting in humour. Harry snorted.

"Very funny, Draco," he said good-naturedly. "Like I would ever take her up on the offer." They both sniggered at the thought of Harry sitting among the Gryffindors.

"Half the table would be in tears before the dinner was through," Draco said in pure glee.

"I am not going to be sitting at the Gryffindor table for your amusement, Draco," he said shortly. Draco sniggered again.

"I knew that," he answered as they entered the Great Hall. "I can still imagine it." Harry snorted and sat down across from Blaise. Pansy, sitting next to the Italian, leaned forward.

"What kept you?" she asked with narrowed eyes. Sometimes that girl could be very suspicious, not to mention nosy.

"The ginger stalker stopped me in the hallway to ask if I wanted to eat dinner with her today," he shuddered. "Scary thought." Blaise was muffling laughter with his hand, and Pansy looked like she found a great amount of amusement in his discomfort.

"You should just lay it out to her," Pansy sniffed. "Maybe she will leave you alone then."

"I told her that I had never been, wasn't and would never be interested," Harry said blithely. "You think that will help?" Blaise cast discreet looks at the Gryffindor table, before he snorted in amusement.

"Look at the Weasleys," he said lowly. Pansy looked over to them too, before she scowled. Harry couldn't keep his curiosity at bay and turned to look.

The Weasley girl was sitting next to her three older brothers. She was sobbing quite violently, while Ronald Weasley was trying in vain to comfort her. The twins were sending somewhat evil looks towards the Slytherin table.

"Great," Harry groaned, his good mood gone. "They've taken offense. If they try some funny business I will not be responsible for my actions." Draco and Blaise gave him sympathetic looks, while Pansy just shrugged.

The teachers and the team of warders left the Great Hall early, going to a meeting about the wards apparently. The students got rowdier without adult supervision, but nothing happened until the end of lunch. On their way out of the Hall, the four Slytherin friends were stopped by three male redheads. The twins looked quite threatening with their arms crossed and identical scowls.

"What do you think you're doing, Potter?" the not-so-threatening Weasley asked angrily. "Leading Ginny on like that and then being so cruel!" Ronald Weasley's hands were fisted at his side, going white; a sure sign that the redhead was angry. Harry raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. He was aware of the entire Hall paying attention to their dramatic stand-off, and the whole situation was ticking him off. He could feel a pressure in his head telling him that his temper was going towards stand-still-so-I-can-carve-your-eyes-out-with-a-wooden-spoon. He took a deep breath.

"Get out of our way, Weasley," Draco snapped from Harry's side. Harry felt a rush of gratefulness toward the Malfoy heir. The twins stood straighter and Ronald tried to sneer. He didn't quite succeed. A tick was developing just above Harry's right eye. Blaise had taken a hold of Pansy's arm and was gently leading her out of the line of fire.

"I did not lead her on, Weasley," Harry said as calmly as he could.

"YOU DAMNED WELL DID, YOU LYING, SLIMY _SNAKE_!" the volatile redhead roared, making the whole Hall go deadly silent. Harry predicted that this would in some way end up in the newspapers. The twins, strangely enough, looked quite content with letting their younger brother do the talking, instead opting to stand there as ominous bodyguards.

"No, I didn't," Harry said, his voice lowering in his anger. Draco was now sending him warning looks, recognizing the warning signs from the last few days. "She has been following me around, Weasley. Today I got tired of it and told her the truth: That I am not interested."

Ronald Weasley then did the most stupid thing he could have.

He took a swing at Harry.

Harry was too shocked by the sudden move to get out of the way in time, and was hit in the jaw.

Everything went even quieter if that was possible. Harry saw red. And it wasn't just the Weasley hair.

Blaise quickly grabbed Draco and pulled him back to keep him out of what was sure to be a spectacular explosion of epic proportions. Harry narrowed his eyes and felt his fangs lengthen, angrier than he had been in ages. He hadn't let anyone hit him since Uncle Vernon. No one had hit him since that despicable fat man; the only human Harry was truly terrified of. He growled; a sound that vibrated through his chest and sounded through the entire Hall.

The twins had been quick to react at the same time as Blaise and moved to the side. Both gave their idiotic brother dirty looks, knowing that he just made everything so much worse.

At Harry's reaction all heads turned toward the Boy Who Lived in shock, and in some cases, horror.

"I think we should take this somewhere else," one of the twins said. Both of them had wide eyes and were trying to pull their brother back. Ronald didn't understand the danger he was currently in and fought their interruption.

"No, let's take this here," he said nastily. "Let the others see what kind of awful person their Saviour is. What kind of evil little _Slytherin_ he is!" He spat the word Slytherin as if it gave him a bad taste in the mouth. Harry snarled; a sounds that in no way could be mistaken for human.

"Where are the teachers when you need them?" Pansy whined from the side and quickly forced her way passed the three Gryffindors, presumably heading for the staff lounge to find the adults before things got ugly.

All this happened in a matter of seconds. Then Harry acted. He grabbed Ronald by his robe and slammed him against the stone wall. Before the twins had time to react, Blaise cast Leg-Locker curses at them while Draco cast two fast _Expelliarmus_ to keep them from interfering. They continued to pay close attention to their vampire friend, Draco now clutching the twins' wands. The twins were cursing something awful, but unable to do anything.

Harry got into Ronald's personal space and bared his teeth at him. Shiny, long, pointy teeth. Ronald's eyes widened in terror and he stared, transfixed, at the fangs in the mouth of the person who was supposed to save them all.

"Now listen here, Weasley," Harry said in a deadly voice, so low that only Ronald could hear him, punctuating his point by slamming the boy harder into the wall. "Your sister is old enough to take care of her own emotional problems; especially when said emotional problems come from having an unrequited crush. But you should know, _Ronald_, that what you did today have you into my bad graces. There aren't many people who are there. You're one of the lucky few. You're sharing the space with a mass murderer and a child abuser. If you ever try to hit me again, I will make sure you regret it dearly." He bared his teeth in a clear threat one last time before letting go of the now pasty white, shaking and terrified boy and stalking out of the Hall, Ronald now crumbled against the wall.

Draco hurried after, depositing the twins' wands in Blaise's hands to let him take care of solving the situation.

**oOo**

Harry was pacing back and forth in the sixth years boys' dormitory. His temper hadn't abated the least. His fangs refused to retract and his eyes were surely glowing. He couldn't remember being this angry before. He wrung his hands, absently noticing that the door opened. He could smell the human before he realized that it was Draco.

"Harry?" he blonde asked carefully. It was clear to Harry that his friends had no idea how to deal with him when he was like this. He grunted to show that he had heard, but otherwise gave no inclination to noticing the presence of anyone else.

"Harry, you need to calm down," Draco said again. Harry stopped his pacing abruptly and took a deep breath. Vampires had weird ways to deal with anger. If they couldn't use anger, it would turn into a mixture between bloodlust and just plain lust. It didn't help his mood that Draco was now standing so close to him. He took another deep breath, trying to ignore the way his stomach clenched at the smell of Draco.

This wasn't good.

He turned around to face his friend. Draco was standing there, looking more uncertain than Harry thought possible. His arms hung from his sides, as if the normally unflappable heir to the Malfoy fortune didn't know what to do with them. It unsettled Harry, knowing he made him act so unlike himself.

"Harry, do you hear me at all?" Draco asked, his steel grey eyes searching Harry's face. Harry stared blankly back before shaking his head violently.

"I hear you, Draco," he said gruffly, his voice coarser than usual because of all the growling he had done. He heard Draco give a small sigh in relief.

"Weasley looked absolutely terrified out there," Draco said slowly. "He knows now, doesn't he?" Harry nodded shortly. Draco came a step closer, now standing close enough to put his arms around Harry's shoulders and giving him a hug. Harry trembled, resisting the urge to sniff the blonde's hair and buried his face in his shoulder instead. He grabbed the back of Draco's robes, thoroughly wrinkling the fabric.

"Pansy went for the adults; they'll probably come here soon," Draco said after a while spent in silence. Harry whined and pressed closer. He didn't want to let go. He didn't want to explain himself to the adults. He didn't want to face the school when Weasley told everyone of his status as a vampire. He was _tired_, damnit!

Draco forced him to let go when he stepped out of his arms, and Harry forcefully made himself keep his hands to himself.

The door opened slowly to admit Pansy and Blaise, followed by Sirius and Remus; Professors Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore, and to Harry's surprise,Crispin's friend who Harry now was certain was called Samuel. He twitched and stopped himself from growling at them. He didn't even know why he wanted to.

"Hey, cub," Sirius said in a calm and soothing voice. Being the mate of a werewolf had made him very good at calming people with animalistic behaviour. "You need to stay calm, okay? Can you do that for me, cub?" Harry's anger flared back when Professor McGonagall ushered Draco, Blaise and Pansy out of the dorm. He snarled at his godfather and made sure to show a lot of shiny teeth, it being the primary warning vampire instincts told him to use.

Harry knew that the anger was irrational, but he was also keenly aware that this was the result of too long with the uncomfortable, itchy feeling of the wards combined with his exasperation at his female admirer and finally, the violence showed upon his person by a classmate. It had him out of his comfort zone; heck, being surrounded by all these humans had him so far out of his comfort zone to begin with that it was a wonder he hadn't snapped earlier. The total lack of sex didn't make matters better in any way. He was a teenage vampire; he was so sexually frustrated it nearly drove him insane.

Remus came over to sniff him and check him for injuries. The wolf was close to the surface, and seeing Harry's sore jaw probably forced Remus to check his pup.

"I'm fine, Remus," Harry said, forcing the words out between clenched teeth. He snapped at his honorary godfather when the man touched his jaw. Remus' eyes slowly bled to amber and he growled back, the growl much more canine than Harry's own. A growling, truly angry, vampire sounded a lot like a big jungle cat, while Remus' growl was distinctly canine in nature.

Remus got himself under control enough to step back, and Harry immediately continued his pacing.

"Mr Potter, I remember you saying that your status as a vampire wouldn't pose a problem at this school," Professor Snape's voice was clear and snide. Harry set glowing eyes at him, sneered and turned away.

"Harry, my boy, you need to calm down, or we will be forced to do something," the Headmaster tried, sounding so regretful it made Harry want to retch. He knew what he wanted. He wanted either his friends, or really frustrated sex. Or both. He wouldn't mind frustrated sex with Draco. Remus discreetly sniffed the air from where he was standing next to Sirius. Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he whispered something to his mate. Sirius' eyes widened and he gained a slightly disturbed look.

"Headmaster, there's nothing _we_ can do to calm him down in the moment," Sirius said regretfully. Harry's Head of House looked like he guessed where this was going. The man wasn't a stranger to vampires; he probably knew a lot about how they worked.

Harry continued pacing, acutely aware that everyone in the room was watching him.

"Why not, my dear boy?" the Headmaster asked of Sirius, sounding for all the world like an old, slightly senile grandfather. Sirius grimaced and elbowed Remus, clearly wanting him to answer for him.

"Albus," Remus said. "Vampires are quite physical beings. He's reached a point in his anger where he needs to get it out in some way. For a teenage vampire,-" here he faltered and made a face. The Headmaster made an "oooh" sound in understanding.

"I think I can help," a new voice joined the discussion. Harry stopped pacing to look intensely at Samuel. _Damn_, but he knew he had met him. The man was smirking and looking at Harry in a way that made him shiver. Oh yes, he could _definitely_ help. He narrowed his eyes at the blonde.

"I have met you at the BP, haven't I?" he asked. Everyone looked at him when he spoke. Samuel made a mock hurt facial expression.

"Oh, how you wound me!" he cried. "Do you not remember me, Raven?" Harry thought he recalled him now. It was a while, but he knew Samuel had at some point been a donor. He smirked.

"I remember," and he did. That had been a hot night, about a year ago. "And you think you can help me?" he purred and walked closer to the man. Samuel's eyes darkened, the dark brown matching his blonde hair quite well. Harry had ceased to notice the other occupants of the room by now.

"Well then, I think Harry should accompany you to your rooms, Mr Jacobs," the Potions Profssor said. His voice was entirely devoid of emotion. The Headmaster's facial expression gave away his disagreement of the plan, but the man wasn't stupid. He knew that vampires had different views of things than humans did and he knew they had different _needs_, to put it that way. It didn't make him more comfortable with the idea though.

Harry smirked at Samuel and made him lead the way out. The rest of the adults dispersed quickly, while Harry's friends stared at him worriedly. He gave them a curt nod and stalked out of the common room, following behind Samuel.

The blonde's room weren't far from the Slytherin dorms. The moment they were inside, Harry grabbed the front of the man's shirt and pressed himself to him. Samuel smirked and pushed Harry against the wall before claiming his lips in a brutal kiss. Harry groaned and gave the older man full control.

***LEMON here people!***

It quickly descended into frenzy when clothes were taken off in a hurry. Harry growled and tugged at Samuel's clothes, quickly getting both of them naked. He was pushed against the wall again, this time with his front against the rough wall, making his erection press against the stones. The combination of sensations from the stone wall against his skin and the heat from the man pressed against his backside made him groan throatily.

Samuel chuckled darkly in Harry's ear.

"You like that, don't you?" he asked in a rough voice that went straight to Harry's cock. He whimpered. Samuel's breath fanned over his neck, making Harry shiver. "I seem to remember that you like it rough." Harry clenched his fists against the wall and pushed his butt to the other man's cock. Samuel hissed.

"Just...please," he begged, writhing against the other man. Samuel whispered a few words that Harry knew very well, preparing him with a spell. He whimpered at the feeling and wriggled around in anticipation.

Samuel slammed into him without warning, making Harry cry out in a good mixture of pleasure and pain.

"Oh fuck yeah," he panted. Samuel grunted and began moving in a punishing pace with brutal force. It was exactly what Harry needed. He pushed back and they got into a hectic rhythm. They wouldn't last long. Harry snapped his teeth and wished he could bite. He wanted blood.

It seemed like Samuel read his mind, because at that moment he retracted, turned Harry around, lifted his legs around his waist and slammed back in, all in a fluid movement that made Harry dizzy. This new angle made Samuel hit Harry's prostrate at every thrust, making him scream out in pleasure. He leaned in close, putting his neck within biting distance. The vampire didn't hesitate. He bit down, and came forcefully at the taste of blood combined with the rather large cock thrusting relentlessly against his prostrate. Samuel followed soon after.

***LEMON over***

"Did that help your mood?" the amused voice of his recent sex partner asked a long while after. They had continued into the bedroom for more after the first frenzied round by the door. Harry grinned at him.

"That it did," he answered. "I had no idea how much I needed that right now!" He had gotten dressed and was buttoning his shirt. Samuel grinned at him.

"You look utterly debauched," he said with a glint in his eyes. Harry snorted.

"I bet I do," he answered, before casting a neat little charm that straightened his clothes and hair, making him look perfectly presentable. He waved at the man before slipping out of the room and heading back to the dorms.

His friends were waiting for him, even though it was well over midnight by now. He had been slightly surprised to see how much time had passed since the disaster that was lunch, but shrugged it away with the knowledge that they had probably slept a few hours inbetween fucking. His friends looked up from the poker game they were obviously playing to stare at him when he came in. Harry found himself seeking out Draco's eyes, but the blonde wouldn't meet his. An uncomfortable knot made itself present in his stomach. _Oh dear Merlin, is that guilt?_ He dearly hoped it wasn't. That would mean feelings he didn't want to have for the blonde human.

He smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry for the ruckus I caused," he said and plopped down between Pansy and Draco on the only available chair by their conjured table. Pansy had a gleam in her eyes that reminded him of Tash and Sash when they got into particularly perverted moods. He quickly looked away from her eyes to see his male friends. Blaise was looking at him with narrowed eyes, and Harry could see that he was adding pieces to a puzzle in his head. Draco was staring fixedly at his cards, not meeting his eyes. By damn, it was guilt he was feeling.

"So what have you been up to?" Pansy asked. "What does it take to get a vampire down from such an impressive anger?" Harry sighed and looked heavenward.

"Sex and blood, Pansy," he said stonily. Her eyes widened at his admission. Blaise choked on his own saliva on the other side of the improvised poker table. Draco stiffened, and Harry was hit with the realization that the blonde felt something for him. This epiphany hit him with all the force of a raging troll and left him with a weird mixture of gnawing guilt and blinding euphoria. He blinked quickly once and resolved to do something about it as soon as possible. If Draco ever wanted to talk to him again, that is.

He sighed again.

"I think I'm just going to go to sleep," he said. "These last few days have been exhausting and it's not going to become better anytime soon, I think." He got up from his chair and listened to Pansy's mindless chatter (a defence mechanism, he had discovered, she chattered when she wanted to avoid awkward silences) while he brushes his teeth and changed into his sleep pants. He wondered idly where their roommates were, before he shrugged inwardly and decided it didn't matter. He crawled into bed with twin goodbyes from Pansy and Blaise, cursing the hollow feeling he got from the silence from Draco.

**oOo**

_Oh My God! *blushes* a lemon! I have never written one of these before! It wasn't planned either, Samuel and Harry just decided that it was needed... Probably just to complicate things *sighs*  
_

_I swear I had no idea where this came from! The chapter got a life on its own, and decided that this had to happen! I apologize to everyone who hoped that this would be a Drarry-moment. It will come! I promise! This story is going to be Drarry, Harry just have to be stupid first._

_I wasn't planning on having Harry have sex with Samuel either, but then they made the decision for me..._


	14. Chapter 12 Where Harry Drowns in Drama

_*squeaks* I am so sorry! There's nothing I can say to excuse this long absence! Seriously, I am scum. Really._

_And just to be even more scummy, I am now going to gloat: I am on Pottermore! Early access and Beta testing, oh yes! I've finished the first book already, and I love it!_

_(And, because I'm sure someone will wonder, I am a Ravenclaw. Imagine my surprise! *muses* I need to change my profile a bit...)_

_Again, I'm sorry and will try to be better!_

_As a comfort-present of a sort, I'm giving you a juicy chapter filled with drama and...stuff!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Property of J. K. Rowling, as the awesome woman that she is._

* * *

**Chapter 12 – ****Where Harry Drowns in Drama  
**

When Harry woke up, the dorm was bustling with movement. He blinked sleepily and looked around to see what woke him up.

It was Blaise. He couldn't see Draco anywhere, and guessed he was getting ready. His stomach clenched painfully with the unmistakable feeling of guilt. He needed to talk to Draco.

"Morning, sunshine!" Blaise said happily. Harry spared him a small scowl before he untangled himself from the covers and stumbled out of bed. His jaw throbbed from where Weasley had punched him, and he was feeling quite sore other places on his body too, but overall he was feeling much better than was his usual in the mornings.

He dug through his trunk until he found a mild healing potion that would get rid of inner bruising and a salve to get rid of swelling and outer bruising. He felt marginally better after swallowing the potion and rubbing the salve on his chin, and got dressed for the day.

He was not looking forward to this.

Draco emerged from the bathroom just as Harry finished fixing his tie, something he still wasn't very good at. The blonde threw a glance in Harry's direction, but quickly looked away. Harry's stomach did that uncomfortable flip that associated with guilt. He sighed.

The door opened to reveal Snape in all his stoic glory.

"You are wanted at the Headmaster's office, Mr Potter," he said, his voice giving nothing away. Harry nodded.

"Sure," he said. "I'm guessing I get a pass from Runes?" Snape nodded and stalked back out of the door. Harry had no choice but to follow.

They reached the Headmaster's office without any exchanged words, and Professor Snape turned around and headed back after saying the password to the gargoyle. Harry took the revolving staircase up and knocked on the door.

"Come in, Mr Potter," the Headmaster said from the other side of the solid piece of wood. Harry mentally steeled himself and opened.

He blinked.

And blinked again.

There was so much...red.

The Headmaster was sitting behind his desk. Sirius and Remus were seated in two chairs at one side of the room, while a whole bunch of redheads were occupying the other side. There was his stalker, her idiot of a brother and the twins. Those were okay; those he knew. The two redheaded adults, on the other hand, were completely unfamiliar. He guessed they were the parents though. Standing next to the parents were a younger man with long hair and a pierced ear. He was good looking enough for a redhead, and probably another Weasley brother or something. How many of them were there anyway?

"Are you trying to render me blind, Headmaster?" Harry asked snidely and with just a touch of his usual morning grouchiness before cautiously taking a few steps toward his uncles. The Headmaster had the nerve to twinkle, and Harry spared him a glare to show his appreciation.

"Whatever do you mean, my boy?" the Headmaster asked jovially. Harry tried not to think about what could possibly make the Headmaster so happy.

"All the red hair, Headmaster, it's blinding," he said shortly, and sat down in the only available chair in the room, next to Sirius. He ignored Ronald's rapidly reddening face in favour of studying the facial expressions of the unknown Weasleys. The mother Weasley looked scarily...motherly. She was staring at him with a near hungry look and her eyes shined with pity; an emotion Harry hated. He resolved to stay clear of this woman. Her husband looked a bit more down-to-earth, but no less pitying. The last male looked...like he found the situation funny.

Harry sulked.

His mood wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. The blood and the sex from the night before would have made him energetic and happy on a normal day; now he it made his mood relatively stable.

"I think you know why we are here today, Mr Potter?" the Headmaster asked slightly reprimanding, while looking over his glasses at the young half-vampire. Harry scoffed.

"Yes, you want to discuss what happened in the Great Hall after all the teachers left," he answered shortly. He raised expectant eyebrows and waited.

"Mr Weasley says you assaulted him," the Headmaster said. Harry snorted.

"He accused me of leading his sister on, then he punched me," he sneered. The adult Weasleys turned toward their son, disapproval shining from their eyes. Remus stiffened in the seat next to Harry, and he could practically _feel_ the glare coming from Sirius.

"You threatened me!" Ronald yelled, red splotches forming on his face and neck. "You – you aren't even human!" Harry rolled his eyes.

"You punched me, what did you expect me to do, roll over and take it? Turn the other cheek?" Harry snarled. His gums itched and his fangs really wanted to extend. The youngest male redhead pulled back slightly, but he was clearly too stupid to see the danger right in front of him.

"We need Mr Weasley to not tell the rest of the school about this," Remus said calmly. "It would mean a lot of trouble should it come out." The Headmaster nodded.

"You are right, Remus," he said. "Young Mr Weasley must keep this a secret." He put the weight of his gaze at Ronald.

"You have _fangs_!" the young male in question yelled. "You're dangerous! You –" here Weasley's eyes turned huge" You're a vampire, aren't you? You're a bloody vampire! What if he hurt someone?" The last question was directed at the Headmaster, who didn't react at being yelled at. Mrs Weasley bristled and shot her youngest son a dark look, after she had gotten over the temporary shock at hearing her son's accusation towards the Boy Who Lived.

"Ronald! That is no way to address the Headmaster!" she scolded and folded her arms over her impressive bosom. Ronald sunk lower in his seat and clearly fell into a sulk. The rest of the Weasleys were looking more or less discreetly at Harry, probably trying to figure out if Ronald was right.

"Maybe Mr Potter wouldn't mind Mr Weasley knowing," the Headmaster said, eyes strangely twinkling again. He looked scheming.

"I'd rather he didn't know, Headmaster," Harry answered shortly. "I don't owe him anything, and I don't trust him to not blab to his fellow Gryffindors. We need him to promise not to tell anything about this." Dumbledore's twinkle dimmed slightly. He clearly had some plan here; maybe getting Harry to trust one of his Gryffindors. Harry just couldn't understand why.

"You're a vampire!" Ronald yelled again. The twins were throwing him angry glances by now, and the Weasley girl was sinking low in her seat, throwing wary glances at her brother.

"And you're a red-head!" Harry sniped back. Ronald was momentarily stunned silent and blinked confusedly.

"What are you on about?" he asked, still angry, but too confused by Harry's random statement.

"I'm sorry, I thought we were having a state-the-obvious-competition," Harry said, crossing his arms and slouching in the seat. Next to him, Remus sighed gustily and Sirius slapped a hand over his face in expiration. Harry grinned toothily. Ronald was rapidly turning red, the colour splotching from his neck, to his ears before slowly taking over his freckled face.

"You freak!" he yelled suddenly, making Harry withhold a growl from surprise and anger. Was this kid related to the Dursleys in some way?

"Ron, you need to control you temper," the unknown Weasley male said, observably seeing how unwise it was to antagonize the already angry vampire. "There is no need to get angry when you were the one at fault. _You_ attacked a fellow student without reason." Harry found himself liking this new Weasley. He was sensible! This was a quality he hadn't seen much of in the other siblings. Ronald just sunk lower in his seat and shot Harry a dark glare. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as Snape's.

Harry sighed.

"I want to get to breakfast, and I do have classes today," Harry said shortly. He shot the Headmaster a challenging look. "Can I be excused to go to breakfast, Headmaster?" Dumbledore looked sad for a moment, but the expression quickly cleared away when Harry didn't budge.

"Mr Weasley, I want you to stay here for while longer to discuss this," Dumbledore said, while Harry gathered his bag and left, waving goodbye to Remus and Sirius on the way.

Breakfast was over when he entered the Great Hall. He saw Blaise and Draco heading his way, just finished eating by the look of it.

"How did the talk go?" Blaise asked with well-hidden worry.

"There were a whole lot of Weasleys present and Ronald got an earful from his mother," Harry answered blithely. "Then he was being a prick and yelling at me, and now he's having a private talk with his family, the Headmaster and Remus and Sirius. I daresay he will be a bit mellower when he gets out of there." Blaise grinned at this and even Draco's lips twitched into a smirk. The blonde still wasn't looking at him though. He was also being very obvious about it, but Blaise pretended not to notice.

They headed off to Runes in silence. Harry wasn't looking forward to the talk he had to have with Draco later, preferably that same day.

* * *

Lunch and dinner were tense affairs in Harry's little group. Draco still wasn't talking to him, Blaise was being oddly reserved and Pansy had defected to her defence mechanism; she was talking non-stop.

Samuel kept sending him suggestive looks, and Harry was starting to worry about the man. There was a chance that Samuel wasn't quite over him. Every time Samuel sent Harry a look, Draco would get a veritable thundercloud over his head, Blaise would become silent and Pansy would talk faster and shriller. It was tiring.

It didn't help matter that the students were giving Harry furtive looks the entire day. They were absolutely not over the incident at dinner the day before. And none of them were very subtle. Some of the rumours roaming the school already were ridiculous.

The drama was getting to him. Too many damn teenagers! He wasn't used to this stuff! The only teenagers he had been around prior to Hogwarts were eighty years old, for Merlin's sake! And yes, he knew how contradictive that was.

Harry threw himself onto his bed with a sigh.

"Draco, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" he asked Draco before the blonde could leave. He watched Draco's back stiffen, but he turned around and nodded shortly. Blaise subtly made himself scarce.

"Why aren't you talking to me, Draco?" Harry asked. Draco sat stiffly on his own bed and gave Harry an unreadable look. Harry sighed.

"Draco, I'm not stupid," he said patiently. "You're angry with me." Draco's eyes flashed steely grey. Oh yes, was he angry. He crossed his arms and stared at Harry.

"I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with myself," he said finally. Harry blinked. He didn't expect this.

"And why are you angry with yourself?" he hedged. He had no idea how to talk about _feelings_ to people. Especially to humans. Draco was giving him a calculating look that put Harry on edge. The other boy was planning something, he could see it.

Draco's eyes narrowed.

Harry suppressed the simultaneous urges to flee or kiss the daylight out of the blonde.

He expected none of the two would be particularly well received.

"Are you dense, Harry?" Draco suddenly asked, throwing Harry off balance.

"Huh?" was his eloquent answer that certainly answered Draco's question. Draco smirked.

Oh dear Merlin, the boy was getting his usual confidence back. This meant one of two things: Harry was just about to be extremely lucky, or he was screwed, and not in a good way.

"I'm almost positive that you are not this stupid," the blonde said with a smirk; a slightly evil one. Damn, there was that look again.

How did they end up with this? Harry was entirely out of his depth here.

Harry decided to let Draco lead the show. The blonde was quite good at it too. Damn him.

Draco got up from his bed, making Harry watch him warily. _He couldn't read him, damnit! _He had no idea what the other male was planning and it was putting him on edge. Draco came closer, and stopped right in front of Harry, forcing Harry to look up if he wanted to keep eye-contact.

"You see, Harry," Draco began lowly. "I was quite sure in my sexuality. Straight as a wand and all that. But for some reason the things I feel for you is nothing like what I have felt for a male before." Harry had made several observations at this point.

One, the way Draco said "sexuality" was insanely arousing.

Two, if Draco would look at Harry that way more often, Harry could die a happy vampire.

Three, Draco had just admitted to having _feelings_ for Harry.

Warning bells were blaring in his head. _Uncharted territory, Harry, uncharted territory! _

Draco was still looking at Harry in that way when Harry came back to the land of the sane.

He got the feeling he was supposed to say something. Unfortunately, Draco's eyes were stealing Harry's vocabulary. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to say _something_, he had no idea what.

Before he got to say anything, however, his mouth was occupied with something else.

Something much, much better than talking.

He closed his eyes and kissed Draco back with all he had. He grabbed Draco's robe and pulled him down to straddle him. Damn, that felt good. The blonde ground against him and Harry moaned into his mouth.

Harry gave Draco full control of the kiss and just relaxed into the blonde's mouth. Someone groaned, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was him or Draco.

Too soon for Harry's tastes, Draco pulled back slightly. Harry whined his displeasure. Draco was breathing hard and his hair wasn't as impeccable as usual, courtesy of a hand that Harry hadn't even noticed was in the blonde hair.

"Do you understand why I was angry?" Draco asked; his voice husky from their earlier engagement and making Harry's brain go on a temporary vacation. He blinked and brought it back.

"I can get that you were angry at me, but not yourself," he answered eventually, slightly breathless.

"I'm the Malfoy Heir, Harry," Draco said, his breath mingling with Harry's in the short space between their mouths. "I'm not supposed to be confused, or even attracted to males. I have been raised to find a pureblood witch to marry and continue on the family line with. I'm not supposed to fall for a male half-blood."

_Fall for?_

Oooh, boy.

"Who says you won't?" Harry asked, desperately wanting to kiss Draco again, but realizing the blonde's need to talk first. He snaked his arms inside Draco's robes and around his waist. "We're _sixteen_, Draco. Experiment a bit. Just let it go. Whatever happens, happens." Draco looked doubtful.

"And I'm the Heir to a very influential family," Draco said with the patience of a saint. "My parents are looking for a suitable wife for me already. They want me to be married before I'm twenty." Harry raised his eyebrows. He was so happy he wasn't the heir to an old British pureblood family.

Oh, wait, he was.

Well, he was happy he didn't have to marry. No one was making him.

He shrugged and kissed Draco again. He had been good for long enough now, damnit. He could feel it when Draco gave up on the protesting and logic and just gave in to enjoying the kiss.

He moved his wandering arms under Draco's shirt to feel the warm skin on the blonde's back. Being a vampire, even a half one, made him seek the warmth that human bodies gave. Harry pulled Draco with him to properly lie on the bed, Draco still straddling his thighs. Harry fund he rather liked this position.

Draco's hands were under his shirt, doing wonderful things to his skin. Harry groaned and arched into the blonde. He reached for the buttons of Draco's trousers and got an affirmative grunt to spur him on. The buttons were quickly undone and Harry snaked a hand inside the blonde's silk boxers. He stroked the erection he found there and got a sensual moan from Draco in reward. Draco's hands became more eager in their quest to open Harry's own trousers.

"Whoa!" Blaise's voice sounded from the door. Draco was quick to stop what he was doing, and pushing Harry's hands away. A quick spell later and both their trousers were buttoned. _That's a nifty piece of magic_, Harry thought dazedly and resolved to learn it. Harry's small wandless magic mostly consisted of getting clothes _off_, not on. Draco rolled of Harry and sat up. Harry sighed gustily before getting up, leaning on his elbows and staring narrow-eyed at the two in the door opening.

He tried valiantly to ignore the smell of arousal still coming from Draco. It was driving him insane.

"Guess they made up," Pansy giggled next to Blaise. Draco waved his wand to make his appearance go back to his usual well-groomed look. Harry gave him a disgruntled look and pretended not to notice that Pansy was giggling at them.

"Blaise you need to knock," Draco said coolly.

"I did," Blaise answered smugly. "Hard and loud." He waggled his eyebrows obscenely and Harry tossed his pillow at him.

"Stars and stones, Blaise, that was so cheesy I don't even have words for it," Harry answered.

Blaise and Pansy dropped down on Draco's bed and stared at Harry and Draco with creepy identical looks. Or at least as identical as they could get considering one of them was a blonde, blue-eyed girl and the other was a dark-haired, brown eyed Italian male.

Draco was watching them warily from his seat next to Harry.

"Please tell me the two of you are going to keep it down during the night?" Blaise pleaded, making Draco actually blush slightly. Harry grinned.

They were going to be okay.

* * *

_Oh my! That was some chapter, am I __right?_

_Don't worry, there will be more Drarry moments before this fanfic is done. Had I been cruel and without a plan for this, I could have ended the fic here *wide eyes* I promise, I'm not going to do that._

_Again: I apologize for using so long to update!_


	15. Chapter 13 Where the Drama Continues

_By Odin, I need to stop doing this! I'm taking way too long between chapters! In my defence though, I have school and two jobs at the moment. Is it bad that I feel guiltier about not having uploaded the chapter earlier, than about not even having started my Norwegian assignment?_

_Oh well._

_Here's the chapter at least!_

_And, you know, it's not mine._

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Where the Drama Continues and Harry Gets Scarred For Life**

The next two days were strained for Harry and his friends. Harry had believed that everything would be good between himself and Draco, but he was wrong.

After Blaise and Pansy had stopped being obnoxious, they had all decided to call it a night. Harry was feeling confident that he had a sort of relationship with Draco now. Things were looking up.

So he thought.

It had been two days, and Draco was acting exactly like his old self. This would normally be a good thing, but since he had admitted to having feelings for Harry, Harry was expecting something to change. At least he was hoping for some one-on-one time. Draco wasn't alone with Harry any time during the last two days.

Saturday was especially difficult, simply because they had no classes. How Draco had managed to avoid being left alone with Harry at all the last two days was a mystery to the vampire.

The only good thing that happened that weekend was that Harry woke up feeling exceptionally good on Sunday.

The wards were gone, or at least changed. He didn't feel them anymore. Harry grinned happily and got up from bed. It was 1 in the afternoon, Harry's normal time to get up. He got dressed in the clothes he usually wore when uniform wasn't required; jeans and T-shirt.

The other students in Slytherin had long since understood that Harry wouldn't be affected by their glares and grumbling comments on his attire. Most of them just shrugged and let it pass. He was too odd and different for them to judge him.

He ambled into the common room with a free grin on his face, which was so out of the ordinary especially for the last week, that many students stared at him. Blaise was so far into his Runes project that he didn't notice anything, but Pansy and Draco did.

Pansy was eying him warily, while Draco just stared.

"What's up, Harry?" Pansy asked carefully. She gave him a warning look to stop him from coming with his normal answer to that question ("The ceiling").

"The wards are fixed," he stated happily after he flopped down on the couch next to Draco. He hummed a little tune and watched, fascinated, when Blaise dropped his quill and stared at Harry. Then Harry's fascination slowly turned to apprehension. Blaise was wearing _that__look_. The one that said I'm-going-to-pickle-your-brain-for-information-and-there's-nothing-you-can-to-do-stop-me. It was a scary look.

"You're a vampire," Blaise stated lowly, with the air of someone who had just realized this. Harry blinked and felt chills go down his back.

"Did you just realize this, Blaise?" he asked sarcastically. Blaise was getting a facial expression that was a strange mixture of excitement and slight shame.

"You can help me with my project!" he exclaimed happily. Harry groaned. He had started to hope that Blaise would never connect the dots on that one. Darn.

"And how would you like to explain that to your partners?" Harry asked dubiously. Draco and Pansy was paying attention too by now, and Harry knew that at least Draco had wondered why Blaise hadn't asked before.

"I don't have to tell them! You can help me here, and I can tell them my new findings the next time we meet up!" Blaise was on a roll now. "I can set up what we have, and you can try to cross the ward!" Harry was secretly amazed that Blaise hadn't thought of this before, since there had been a lot of talk about Harry and vampire wards recently, but decided not to comment. He was just sad it didn't last longer.

"I'm not going to be your lab rat, Blaise," Harry said. The three purebloods gave him weird looks.

"We're not at human transfiguration yet, Harry. And what does that have to do with this anyhow?" Pansy asked bewildered. Harry snorted.

"Lab rat," he said. "It's a Muggle saying. It means I'm not going to be your test subject." His three friends only looked more confused.

"What's rats got to do with it though?" Blaise asked, completely confused. Harry shrugged.

"Muggle scientists often experiment on rats," he said. "Nothing more significant than that."

"Hey!" Blaise yelled suddenly, pointing at Harry. The whole common room became silent for a moment where everyone stared at Blaise, before they got back to their own conversations and homework. Harry stared.

"You're trying to change the subject!" Blaise declared.

"Yes, I was trying to," Harry said with a grin. "I'm not going to test your ward." Blaise gave his best pleading look.

"Please?" he whined. "We're stuck, and without testing it we won't know if it works."

"But if it works, who's going to be standing in sunlight?" Harry asked with both eyebrows raised. "Sunlight five times the strength of the normal sunrays out there, I might add. I'm not a masochist, Blaise, and that would hurt." Blaise looked downtrodden.

"Okay then, I guess that makes sense," he sighed.

"I didn't say I wasn't willing to discuss it with you," Harry said consolingly. "I can offer some new perspective and I know quite a lot about Runes." Blaise perked up immediately, and Draco rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. Pansy had fallen out of the conversation and was once again painting her nails. That girl owned more nail polish than Harry thought was possible.

* * *

Draco dragged Harry to the library to meet Lisa Turpin for their project. So far they were working on an age ward. They wanted a ward that would only allow young people through. Professor Babbling had been stuck somewhere between excitement and worry. The woman wasn't stupid; she saw the potential havoc the students could cause with such a ward.

But her professional curiosity won. She wanted to see if her students could pull it off.

Harry meant that they had bitten off more than they could chew. Draco didn't agree. Poor Lisa Turpin was too terrified of working with two Slytherins to say anything on the matter and left all the bickering to Harry and Draco.

They found the tiny, blonde girl sitting in her usual seat in the library. Harry flopped gracelessly in a seat opposite hers, and Draco sat down next to him. Turpin was slowly getting used to Harry, and was thoroughly terrified of Draco.

"Morning," Harry said happily and picked a huge book from the towering stack on the table. Turpin blinked, surprised.

"Morning," she said slowly and carefully back. She had learned by now of Harry's grumpy demeanour, especially for the last week. Draco grunted a greeting and deftly picked up her notes to see if she had anything new. She didn't even blink; he had been doing this every time they met up.

"You think this can help?" Draco asked and pointed to a section of Turpin's notes where she had written down a rune they hadn't discussed yet. Harry leaned in close, closer than he really needed, to see what her notes said.

They got into a long discussion, where Harry was quite proud to provoke Turpin into talking.

When they left the library hours later for dinner, both Harry and Draco felt that they had gotten somewhere on their project. They were deep in discussion of it when they walked to the Great Hall, they didn't even notice when Blaise joined them at the table.

"I'm so tired of Boot!" Blaise said loudly and sighed gustily. Harry and Draco stopped their conversation to stare at Blaise with raised eyebrows. Blaise blinked at their simultaneous actions, before he shook his head and continued his rant.

"He's so snobbish!" Blaise whined. "He has this holier-than-thou attitude that really goes on my nerves. Just because he's a Ravenclaw he's got it in his head that he's smarter than everyone else! Even Goldstein is getting sick of him!" Harry couldn't quite contain a snigger.

"Poor Blaise," he said mockingly. Blaise threw him a glare.

Harry tuned out Blaise's ranting and glanced up at the teacher's table, but didn't see the warders there anymore, so he guessed they had completed whatever they had done to the wards. He was still basking in the good feeling of not being cold. He wondered if it was possible for him to leave the castle now.

The common room was very crowded this Sunday, and after ten minutes of trying to find a seat for all three of them, they gave up and reconvened to the sixth year boy's dorm. The boys' dorms were usually empty, since most of the boys preferred to hang out in the common room.

It wasn't completely empty when they entered today.

Theo was sitting in his bed staring at the opposite wall with empty eyes. Draco and Blaise exchanged glances, but went to the opposite corner to set up their usual table.

After transfiguring a table and four chairs, they put up a Silencing Ward around them to avoid being overheard. Harry hadn't noticed before, but his friends got kind of tense when Theo was in the room. Theo mostly disappeared before Harry got up in the morning and went to bed earlier than him in the evening so Harry didn't see him much.

How come he hadn't noticed how tense it got when he was around?

"So, what's the story with Theo?" he asked. Blaise and Draco exchanged looks while Pansy looked more subdued that Harry had seen her.

"The four of us used to be friends," Draco started. "Our parents know each other, so we were friends from we were kids." Pansy was fiddling with her newly painted nails, chipping the nail polish off in flakes.

"He stopped hanging out with us after Christmas last year," Blaise added with a shrug. "And this year he's avoiding us whenever he can. He's hanging out with seventh years." Harry remembered that he had seen Theo hanging out with some of the shiftier-looking seventh years at times. More often than not they were behind privacy wards of some kind.

Harry turned briefly to see Theo sitting with a book in his lap, without really moving his eyes.

"He doesn't look too happy now, does he?" he asked the others. Blaise shrugged and looked away. Harry looked between his three friends, but none of them would meet his eyes.

"He's taken the Dark Mark, hasn't he?" he asked lowly. Pansy's eyes snapped up from her nails and Harry could see a pained expression in her eyes. He sighed. He hadn't had this discussion with his friends yet. He knew that Draco's father was a Death Eater, and suspected the same about Blaise and Pansy's fathers too.

"It doesn't look like he wanted it," he said carefully. He knew his friends well enough to know that they didn't share Voldemort's views. They might not be all buddy-buddy with Muggleborns, but they weren't going to start torturing and killing them either.

"He was the quietest of us," Draco said. "But he was friends of sort with a Muggleborn in Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw didn't return after Christmas break last year and Theo was distant." Draco let Harry put two and two together on his own.

"Dear Merlin," Harry mumbled. "I can guess. That's horrible. His father forced him?" Blaise shrugged.

"We think so," he said. "All our fathers are Death Eaters, Harry. They're going to want us to join soon." The sombre atmosphere almost made Harry guilty for asking about Theo in the first place.

"What do your fathers think about your friendship with me?" he asked, worried about his friends. Draco's eyes became distant.

"My father's congratulated me," he said, discomfort sounding from his voice. Harry snorted.

"Well, that's not the worst," he said with a shrug. "At least you don't have to worry about punishments. Do you know when they want you to take the Mark?"

Pansy blinked.

"My father doesn't expect me to take it," she said. "I'm supposed to be a good, supporting wife to a pureblood male by his choice. That's all." Harry grimaced. It sounded bad enough for him.

"My father hinted about the summer holiday," Blaise mumbled. Draco nodded. Harry narrowed his eyes in thought.

"What can we do to stop it?" he asked. Draco sighed.

"I can't think of anything," he said. "And believe me, we have thought about it." Harry hmm'ed thoughtfully.

"Have you tried talking to Theo to see if you could help him?" he asked. The three friends exchanged guilty looks.

"Not exactly," Blaise hedged. "We understood what had happened when his Ravenclaw friend didn't come back, so we kept our distance. Self-preservation is quite popular amongst Slytherins." Harry sniggered despite the sombre atmosphere.

"I think I want to talk to him," he said suddenly, to the astonishment of his friends. "I want to know why he's so down today, and he might tell me since it's obvious that I won't be joining Voldemort any time soon." Draco and Blaise were seeing the logic in the statement, but Pansy was back to chipping off her nail polish and generally looking very despondent.

Harry got up from his seat and wandered over to the oblivious Theo.

"Hello, Theo," he said as he plopped down on the other's bed. Theo looked up at the sudden movement, and looked no-less surprised when he saw who was sitting on his bed.

"Hello," he said hesitantly. Harry grinned cheerily and sat cross-legged in front of Theo.

"You look like someone killed your puppy," he said. "So I decided to see if I could cheer you up." Harry was acting as cheerful and happy as he could. A friend of his father had told him once that no one would suspect him of anything if he bounced and grinned. Harry had taken that to heart.

"No, everything is fine," Theo said and looked away. Harry snorted.

"You make a terrible liar for a Slytherin, Theo," he said. "Even I could see that you're lying." Theo reddened slightly in the face, but kept his eyes away from Harry's.

"So let me take a wild guess here," Harry ploughed on, dropping the cheery attitude. "You were forced to take the Dark Mark somewhere between Christmas break last year and that summer holiday." Theo was staring at him now; blue eyes wide and fear lurking in the depths.

"I'm not going to run to Dumbledore," Harry said with raised eyebrows. "I'm not stupid. Or a Gryffindor." Theo's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to smile.

"What is it that's got you so down now?" Harry asked again, hoping that Theo would answer now that Harry made it clear he wasn't going to rat him out. Theo sighed and picked at the book he was holding.

"The Dark Lord has given me a task," he whispered. "I don't want to do it, but he made it clear that failure was not an option." Harry nodded empathically.

"Do you have anywhere to go during the summer holiday if you want to get away from Voldemort?" Harry asked breezily. Theo gave him a deadpan look.

"I have the Mark, I can't hide from the Dark Lord," he said stonily. Harry snorted.

"Do you really think Voldemort is the most powerful wizard of this time?" he asked. "Sure, he is very powerful, but not the only powerful one. And I'm not talking about Dumbledore either." Theo was looking hopeful now, not much, but there was a spark in his eyes that Harry hadn't seen before.

"How good is your Occlumency?" Harry asked seriously. Theo blinked.

"I know a bit," he said. "My father was quite adamant about teaching me the basics and I took care to learn the rest. Especially after my father informed me that I was to take the Mark." Harry nodded.

"Wise decision," he said. "But you didn't want the Mark?" Theo shook his head.

"No," he mumbled. "I had a very good friend in Ravenclaw who was a Muggleborn." His voice nearly broke for a moment there, but he hid it well.

"I know," Harry said, before Theo could say anything else. Theo looked up again and met Harry's eyes head on. The pain in there was still raw, as was the guilt and shame. Harry didn't have anything to say that would help.

"You know that your friends over there don't want the Mark either?" he asked finally. Theo sighed and shifted.

"I suspected, but we never talked about our father's expectations of us," he answered. "It was like we all knew that the moment we talked about it, it would become real, you know?" Harry was feeling a mixture of discomfort and sympathy from hearing Theo talk.

"Talk to them, yeah?" Harry suggested. "They obviously miss you, and we can help you when the holiday comes." Theo was already shaking his head before Harry had finished the sentence.

"I can't hide from him," he said. "He can find the people he has Marked wherever they go." Harry grinned ruefully.

"Not in my home, he can't," he said. "My father owns a very, very old family manor. It's practically a castle actually. And it's very well protected. I would compare the wards to the ones around Hogwarts. The manor has been hidden from everyone but immediate family for centuries." Theo was looking hopeful again. Harry grinned again.

"I'm sure we can hide you if need be," he said. "Now, let's go talk to your friends, eh?" He grabbed Theo's hand and practically dragged him across the room. He pushed the still stupefied teenager into a chair and walked out of the dorm to give them some alone-time.

He set course towards Remus' quarters to talk to his honorary uncle.

Ten minutes later he closed the door with a bang and walked wide-eyed down the corridor.

He was scarrred for life.

He blindly walked around until he ended up in a far-away corner in the library, where he curled up on the floor behind the table. He tucked his feet up against his chest and stared out with big traumatized eyes.

Merlin, the _positions_!

And the worst thing was that they didn't even notice him.

_They kept on going!_

He shuddered.

"Harry?" a female voice asked from above. He looked up.

Hermione was staring at him from her position across the table he was hiding behind. She had leaned over so her head peeked over the end of the table. She looked vaguely worried.

"You didn't even notice me," she said, her voice the tone of someone who knew what volume to keep in a library.

"I'm sorry, horrible pictures have been branded into my retina and I couldn't see past them," he said, and he could hear that he sounded vaguely horrified. Hermione furrowed her brows, and came around to huddle on the floor with him. That surprised him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Have you ever walked in on your parents?" he countered, and watched her eyes widen and her cheeks redden.

"Remus is like an uncle, and so is Sirius," he babbled. "There have been instances where I've heard them, and I nearly walked in on them before, but this time..." His eyes widened even more.

"I think I'm scarred for life," he said. "I want to cast a _scourgify_ on my brain. Then I want to stab my eyes out with my wand." Hermione's lips were twitching suspiciously.

"This isn't funny," he said, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Far from it. I may never be able to look at them again without seeing Sirius in a dress and a red hood!" That did it for Hermione and she burst out laughing.

* * *

_I realised after some of the reviews that I forgot to mention which older Weasley brother that came with to the meeting._

_Would any of you forgive me if I said Percy? _

_Oh, who am I kidding, I wouldn't be that cruel. It's Bill. I love Bill, he has so much potential!_

_I got a lovely review from Protego Totalum that made me change Theo's role slightly. He was supposed to be a genuine Voldemort-supporter. Damn, now I need a new school-villain! Ah well, I'm sure there's lots of seventh years that will rise to the task!_

_There's going to be some drama there, since Theo is quite against vampires, and will therefore have some serious issues with living with some._


	16. Chapter 14 Where the Twins Get Even

_I feel so guilty... Remember how I said I was juggling school and two jobs? Well, now it's only two jobs, but I feel so busy! And I have suffered from a bad case of writer's block, which I'm still working on._

_But hey! Here's the chapter! Better late than never!_

_**Disclaimer**: No, I have not morphed into a British millionaire overnight *sighs*_

_Also, in the last chapter Saturday came and went without me mentioning Harry feeding. Just assume that he did, and that Draco still was the donor, no matter how awkward that would have been, considering their odd relationship at the moment._

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Where the Twins Get Even**

Harry had come back to the dorm to the sight of Pansy, Blaise, Draco and Theo in a serious conversation. Pansy was even suspiciously damp in the eyes. He tried steering towards the bathroom where he intended to take a long shower and fill his eyes with soap, but Blaise hailed him and sat him down in a new chair.

"Are you sure your family home can help?" Blaise asked intensively. Harry blinked dumbly and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he mumbled. "It's old and has been hidden for centuries. People have been looking for it, but no one has found it. I also know for certain that father wouldn't mind helping. Can I go take a shower now? I have a strong urge to scour my eyes." He left before they gathered enough wits to answer.

In the next few days, Harry avoided looking at his uncles. It became difficult when Wednesday rolled around and they had Defence with said uncles. Why Sirius was still hanging around was a mystery to most of the students, as the only thing he did was disturb the class.

Remus didn't seem to mind overly much.

Which only awoke nasty images in Harry's already scarred brain.

Oh, he had always known that they were mates, and he had heard them from time to time. But seeing them like that? He was _scarred_. Probably his more human side acting up.

Draco and Blaise were sending Harry looks, apparently trying to figure out why he shuddered and grimaced every time he looked up.

Remus was still forced to teach all the classes about different ways to protect themselves from vampires. Harry was still ignoring the lectures.

Today, Remus was talking about sunlight, the effects it had on vampires and how to create it with spells. He had warned Harry beforehand, so Harry had taken precautions and increased his usual dose of sun-block potion.

He didn't think his classmates were so oblivious that they wouldn't notice if he got burned from the spell.

The only saving grace in this Wednesday's lecture was when Daphne raised her hands to ask a question.

"Yes, Miss Greenrass?" Remus said.

"How is the relationship between vampires and werewolves, Professor?" she asked, with such an innocently curious look on her face that Harry started suspecting that she had ulterior motives. Remus looked taken-aback by her question.

"Well, I have no problem with vampires," he started, and Harry immediately noticed the atmosphere in the room becoming strained. "Werewolves and vampires have no issues with each other on account of species, contrary to popular beliefs. I actually have several close friends who are vampires." Several of Harry's classmates turned towards him to stare, before they turned back to the teacher.

"But professor, you're a close friend of the Boy Who Lived!" Tracey Davies said, apparently trying to understand the connections.

"Yes, I am," he said, his face turning stern. Harry suddenly realized, quite gleefully too, that Remus was about to tell the class the truth about most vampires. This should be entertaining. "So are many vampires."

The class went silent. Harry could practically hear the cogs turning in some of his classmates' heads.

"A select few vampires joined Voldemort," Remus said, completely ignoring the violent reaction the name earned him. "Most of the British vampires want no part of this war, and a few of them will only get involved if they feel they have to. A few coven-less vampires, called rouges, joined Voldemort, and of course the Ministry believes that they're all evil. It is the same prejudice werewolves are met with everywhere."

"So most vampires aren't following the Dark Lord?" Daphne timidly asked.

"Exactly," Remus answered with a smile.

Then they went back to practicing the spell.

After Defence they trudged down to dinner together. Harry was frowning and trying to forget the gleeful look on Bulstrode's face when she mastered the spell. Theo had also been wearing a look of satisfaction when he had mastered it. He knew that of all his Slytherin year mates, those two were the most against vampires.

Hopefully, Theo would get to know him a little better before he found out of Harry's vampirism.

Of course, Remus' impromptu speech had helped their cause, and several of the sixth year Slytherins were looking very thoughtful when they exited the class.

The moment Harry entered the Great Hall, he knew something was amiss. He felt the tingling of a charm when he passed the doors, and he noticed something in his peripheral vision. He frowned, stopped and grabbed a lock of hair to study.

He grimaced.

It was fiery red.

Really, really red.

_Weasley_ red.

Apparently the twins had decided to retaliate. Harry's only worry was that this was decidedly tamer than what he had done to them.

He let go of his hair and zeroed in on the Weasley twins. They grinned at him and raised their glassed simultaneously. He grimaced again and sat down at the Slytherin table. The entire table was staring at him.

"Please tell me you're going to fix that?" Draco asked in a pained voice. Harry looked at him. The blonde was eyeing Harry's new hair colour with obvious distaste.

"No, I was thinking of keeping it," Harry answered, his voice so thick with sarcasm you could practically taste it. Blaise was sniggering uncontrollably next to him. Harry spared him a glare.

"Of course I'm going to change it, but there's no way in Hell I'm going to try it here," Harry snorted. "I bet the twins have done something more to the charm. I don't want to try fixing it when it may end up lurid pink or something." Cue more grimacing from every Slytherin within hearing distance.

* * *

Harry's hair stayed bright red for two whole days. He was ready to hex the twins by the end of Friday. It didn't help matter that Snape spent the entire Potion lesson avoiding Harry and looking pained whenever he noticed him.

It was bugging him.

"You need to get rid of that hair colour, Harry," Pansy told him matter-of-factly when the four of them was once again gathered around the conjured table in the boys' dorm. Harry slumped in his seat.

"I've tried several charms, and I can't seem to change it," he whined. "I think the twins put a time limit on it."

"I can try," Pansy said and took out her wand.

"NO!" the three boys yelled at the same time. Pansy blinked.

"...Okay, that one deserves an explanation," she said with her eyebrows so high they nearly touched her hairline.

"We tried that the first day," Blaise shuddered. "It backfired."

"Big time, I might add," Harry said. Draco sighed.

"His hair spent the night _glowing_," he explained to a confused Pansy, and cast a glare at Harry as if the whole thing was his fault. "The whole dorm was red. It was so very _bright_!" Pansy's lips were twitching suspiciously.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh of me," Harry mumbled. She did just that.

Theo entered the room and cautiously approached them. He had been hanging out with them again, much to everyone's pleasure. Especially Pansy's, Harry was surprised to notice. Blaise had told him that Pansy and Theo had been an item before the fall-out. They were carefully testing the waters again.

Draco casually pushed out a chair so Theo could sit, and the conversation started up again. Harry fell out of it after a while and sent discreet looks at Draco. The blonde was still acting as if nothing had happened between him and Harry, and it was going on Harry's nerves. He had come to the conclusion that he actually wanted a _relationship_ with Draco. An actual monogamous relationship.

He'd never had one of those before, but he wanted one with Draco. Draco, on the other hand, looked to be determined not to think of the obvious attraction between them. It was vexing.

Draco hadn't said anything about not being a donor anymore, so Harry assumed he was going to be one. He wasn't sure if he looked forwards to Saturday or not. The last Saturday had been awkward for them both, but Draco had donated blood for Harry as if it was a given.

Harry was grateful, and immensely frustrated. Draco was slowly driving him insane.

He was disturbed from his thoughts when Theo asked a question.

"What are we going to do about your hair, Harry?"

"More importantly, what are they planning on doing now? Surely this can't be their revenge for feeding them to the giant squid?" Harry mused. Draco looked vaguely horrified.

"You mean you think there's more?" Blaise asked. Harry looked around his friends and realized that they all thought the hair was all.

"If this-"he gestured toward his flaming hair"- is the only bay-back they do, then you have seriously over-estimated them," he said. "_Remus_ can do better than this without planning anything. Of course, Remus is a blood-thirsty bugger when the mood hits him." Theo raised both eyebrows in surprise.

"Professor Lupin? A prankster?" he asked disbelievingly. "I have trouble seeing that."

"Then you haven't seen him around the full moon if someone takes his chocolate," Harry continued, dead-serious. He turned to Pansy. "No offense in any way, but how would you react if someone stole your chocolate when you're having your period?" Pansy's eyes widened.

"I would hurt them with a blunt object," she answered immediately. "Repeatedly." The three other guys shuddered.

"Yes, exactly, Remus is like that around the full moon," Harry said. "Father jokingly calls it 'his time of the month', which Remus takes great offense to, and it all escalates into a war. Spiffy have had a few fits about it when the living room has become a warzone."

"Your home life sounds eventful," Draco sniggered. Harry nodded empathically.

"It is," he said with conviction. "Very interesting indeed."

* * *

Harry was not a happy camper.

It was Saturday, and lunch time. Once again he was walking after Blaise, Draco and Pansy heading for lunch. He grumbled not so politely about Dumbledore while he trudged along at the pace of a snail. Draco would, with a suffering sigh, grab the other two when he noticed Harry lagging behind. This had become their Saturday routine.

Harry didn't notice as he dragged his feet and imagined the painful things he could do to Dumbledore for forcing him up at this ungodly time on a _Saturday_.

It was _unnatural_!

His musings were stopped short when he encountered a problem just when he entered the Great Hall.

Someone threw a rubber ball at him.

Harry caught it by reflex, and before he could even be shocked, there was a puff of purple smoke and Harry wasn't Harry anymore. The ball rolled of, looking as harmless and innocent as can be.

Harry looked down on himself. He had fur. And four legs. And, he discovered by looking behind himself, a tail.

He mewed.

He was a cat.

A bright red cat.

Saturdays officially sucked.

And the Weasley twins were roaring with laughter. So did Remus and Sirius, the traitors. He hissed at the three of them, ignored the giggling/laughing/sniggering coming from his fellow students and tried to figure out how to walk on four legs.

He still needed his coffee, damnit.

Draco and Blaise were wearing odd expressions, caught between the urge to laugh and to help him undo it. Pansy had huge eyes and looked at him with a scary look on her face. Then Harry remembered her unhealthy obsession with cats. Oh, damn, this day was just getting worse.

Harry managed, after much stumbling and one incident where he fell flat on his face, to reach the Slytherin table. Here he was met with a new problem. How on earth was he going to reach the bench, much less the table?

He mewed pitifully and looked up on Draco with his much-practiced help-me-please-look-how-cute-and-innocent-I-am look. Yes, he had it nailed when he was a kid.

It helped as a cat too, and Draco picked him up. That was an altogether weird experience, but there was a cup of coffee already made for him, so Harry was willing to forget.

Luckily for Harry, and for the twins, the coffee tasted just as good when he was a cat.

Harry tried not to think what he would do if the charm didn't wear up, since he was thirsty and needed to feed soon. He was lounging in the Slytherin common room along with his friends. He had discovered that he could talk English in this form if he concentrated; it was a lot like talking Parseltounge in his normal form.

He had just escaped from Pansy, who cooed and apparently thought he made an adorable cat, despite the colour, and was now occupying a seat next to Draco. Draco, used to having various cats begging for petting, had automatically started to scratch him behind his ears, which Harry thought was a truly wonderful sensation. That was when he learned that this form could even purr.

He was impressed against his will. The Weasley twins were _good_.

A bright flash of light temporarily blinded him and made Draco pause in his ministrations. Harry blinked repeatedly at Pansy who was holding a camera, looking far too pleased with herself. Harry decided to deal with that later and nudged Draco to continue petting him. Draco took the hint.

Harry hoped his animagus form would be a cat, he could get used to this.

Harry sauntered over to the dorm room before anyone would be going to bed, hoping that Draco took the hint. He did, as the clever boy that he was, and followed shortly after. It didn't hurt that 9 in the evening on Saturdays was the time Harry fed.

Harry was sitting on his bed, having jumped up with a few mishaps he was happy no one saw, and waiting for Draco when the blonde entered.

"How in Merlin's name are we going to do this, Harry?" he asked when he sat down on his own bed, facing Harry. Harry tried to shrug. It didn't work quite as good with a cat's shoulders as it did with human ones, but he got his point across.

"I have no idea," he added. "I don't have my fangs in this form, and I think biting would hurt. So I have to change back. Now, how are going to accomplish that?" Draco looked just as clueless as Harry felt.

"I don't think charms are the way to go," Harry eventually said. Draco grimaced and nodded.

"Agreed," he said.

Harry frowned as best as he could in his furry form and thought hard. How was he going to do this? He really needed to be himself right now.

He felt funny for a while. He frowned deeper and concentrated. He really, _really_ needed to be himself right now. The funny feeling came back, and suddenly he was surrounded by purple smoke.

The sudden change startled him so much he fell down from his bed. Draco snorted.

"How did you do it?" he asked, while he watched Harry scramble up and sit on his bed again. He shrugged. It worked much better this time.

"I thought about how I really needed to be myself," he answered truthfully. "I'm actually quite impressed with that piece of magic. I need to discuss is with the twins. After I have taken my revenge, of course." He grinned rather evilly. Draco smirked back.

"Of course," he drawled.

"Now, let's do this before anyone comes in," Harry said and happily jumped onto Draco's bed. He could hear Draco's heartbeat quickening slightly and had to hold in a victorious smirk. Harry wasn't a very patient person. He didn't _do_ slow seduction. But he would seduce the trousers of Draco (literally) if it was the last thing he did.

An evil plan formed in his head.

"Let's do this more comfortable, yes?" he said. "I don't understand why you've been insisting we stand; it must be uncomfortable for you." Draco's face was carefully blanked. It still impressed Harry that Draco could hide his emotions so thoroughly. Of course, he could smell him and hear his heartbeats, so Harry wasn't totally in the dark.

He pushed Draco down on the bed and straddled his hips. Draco quickly got an alarmed look on his face, while Harry grinned widely, fangs extended. He quickly spelled the curtains of both their beds shut.

"I promise you, you're going to be much more comfortable like this," he purred. Draco's eyes widened and Harry could smell the beginnings of arousal coming from the blonde.

He leaned down to nuzzle his neck, his hands on either side of the blonde's body. He licked Draco's neck quickly and had to hold in a laugh at the undignified squeak that followed.

When he bit down on Draco's neck he didn't try to lessen the amount of aphrodisiac he sent out, and relished in the breathless moan Draco gave out. Harry swallowed and ground against the other boy. He could feel an erection pressing against his own and it felt pretty damn good.

He swallowed again and Draco ground back up against him, arching his back and making the most delicious sounds.

Draco came with a moan just as Harry finished feeding. The slight change in taste of the blood, combined with the smell of Draco pushed Harry over the edge and he groaned as he too came. He healed Draco's neck and rolled off the blonde. A quick cleaning charm later removed the evidence of their activities.

Draco was staring at him, panting slightly and a question in his eyes.

"We can talk about it in the morning," Harry said, way too comfortable to take that serious conversation. Tomorrow was Sunday. They had the entire day to talk. And he had a feeling it would be a very serious talk.

* * *

_I think I may have conquered the writer's block now! It may have something to do with the fact that I have gotten my love for reading back. I have spent less time on the computer in the last few days, because I have discovered a new book. Once again I can hardly wait to be home so I can read more. I haven't felt that way since the Harry Potter books! I missed the feeling._


End file.
